The state has ‘No’ problem with partiality

İklim Öngel
 
The CHP has reported on concrete examples of campaigning for ‘Yes’ by the civil service, which is supposed to keep out of politics. According to the report, there are 41 glaring examples in which state civil servants have made their positions clear and have come out in support of ‘Yes’ and in which schools and pupils have been used for the ‘Yes’ campaign. Various incidents are set out in the report, from ‘Yes’ posters draped on mosques to school administrations getting pupils to hand out ‘Yes’ leaflets, and from ‘Yes’ banners stretched across historic walls to ‘Yes’ lectures at student hostels attended by AKP MPs.
Zeynep Altıok Akatlı, Deputy General Chair with Responsibility for Human and Natural Rights, has reported with concrete examples on state officials’ participation in ‘Yes’ campaigning over the 20 day period from 1 March to 20 March. Examples of participation by state officials in the ‘Yes’ campaign are laid out chronologically in the report by Akatlı, who says, ‘I am submitting the list of the ‘Yes’ campaigning to members of the ruling party, who are unable to see it. Let them come out and deny it. I am not just submitting it to them, but also to the Supreme Election Board and members of the impartial, independent judiciary. They are also obviously unable to see it.’ Here are some of the examples from Akatlı’s report:
* Sivas Directorate of National Education branch manager, Fehmi Tutkun, has campaigned for ‘Yes’ on his social media accounts.
* A ‘Yes’ poster was hung on the wall of Mevlana Mosque situated in Küçükçekmece.
* Izmir Menderes Sub-Province Director of National Education, Yüksel Yıldız, posted a photograph of himself wearing a ‘Yes’ t-shirt.
* Assistant Professor Dr. Selman Öğüt organised a ‘Yes’ lecture entitled ‘New Turkey New Future’ at Edirne Credit and Hostels Institute.
* A ‘Yes’ panel was organised at Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University attended by AKP Istanbul MP Burhan Kuzu. The panel was also attended by Burdur’s Provincial Governor and institution directors.
Politics in the mosque
* Health Minister Recep Akdağ campaigned for ‘Yes’ in the courtyard of a mosque in Trabzon, where he had gone to campaign in the constitutional referendum.
* The ‘Warm Home Foundation’ hung banners containing ‘Yes’ slogans on the historic walls at Istanbul’s Edirne Gate, a listed UNESCO world cultural heritage site and on which the of hanging of banners is forbidden.
* Üsküdar Municipality provided the Youth Foundation of Turkey with billboards to campaign for ‘Yes’ and acted as sponsor. The public prosecution said there were no grounds for prosecution in response to a crime report.
* Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu entered the name of a mosque on posters inviting citizens to attend a rally in Bursa’s Nilüfer Sub-Province.
* The AKP’s Esenyurt Municipality set out the case for ‘Yes’ in the municipal assembly hall to religious vocational high school pupils during teaching hours.
* In Aksaray, religious vocational high school pupils distributed the AKP’s ‘Yes’ newspaper to tradespeople.
* In Trabzon, AKP MP Salih Cora held a ‘Yes’ meeting in a primary school. The meeting took place in the sports hall of Trabzon Düzköy Çamlıca Elementary School.
* Balıkesir Metropolitan Municipality buses carried people free of charge to Prime-Minister Yıldırım’s ‘Yes’ rally.
* With Fatih Municipality remaining silent at the AKP’s ‘Yes’ vehicle entering Eminönü Square, it denied entry to the CHP’s ‘No’ vehicle.
* Denizli Provincial Governor Ahmet Altıparmak supported Erdoğan’s rally by saying, ‘Attend the “Yes” rally to ensure that services come.’
* It has emerged that Bolu Municipality has allotted a vehicle having official number plates to the AKP for ‘Yes’ campaigning.
* An Erdoğan poster covering an entire facade has been displayed at the building used by the General Directorate of Press and Publications in Istanbul’s Cevizlibağ.
* The ‘Yes’ campaign’s posters and pendants have been hung up in university hostel buildings in various places, most notably the Atatürk Student Hostel in Istanbul’s Cevizlibağ.
* Posters reading, ‘Our minds are made up – Yes’ have been hung up at the No 2 and 6 and Family Health Centres in Bahçelievler Quarter in Urfa’s Haliliye Sub-Province, and at Diyarbakır’s Çermik Municipality, which is being run by a curator.
* The Anadolu University Administration, which cancelled the showing of a film on 16 March saying, ‘It may turn into a referendum event,’ has arranged a ‘Yes’ panel with a presidential consultant slated to attend.
* Industrial Vocational High School Headmaster Çetin Turan made attendance at the ‘Yes’ rally compulsory for students and asked class heads for a list of attendees.
EVEN AT THE VICTORY CEREMONY
* At the ’18 March Çanakkale Naval Victory’ celebrations in Çanakkale, a constitutional banner was displayed and ‘Yes’ scarves, jackets and hats were distributed to those attending the ceremony.
* In Şırnak’s Silopi Sub-Province, the police distributed ‘Yes’ brochures along with AKP supporters.