CONGRESS PRESIDENT A.I. CONDEMNS ELECTORAL VIOLENCE IN TURKEY
PanARMENIAN.Net
31.03.2009 16:00 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "I condemn the violence which erupted during local
elections in Turkey on 29 March, leaving six people dead and some
hundred injured," Ian Micallef, President a.i. of the Council of
Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, stressed today.
"It is both tragic and absurd when the ultimate exercise in democracy –
elections – led to bloodshed. A public inquiry must be carried out as
soon as possible into the causes of this violence, which tarnished the
quality of the system of democratic elections, and those responsible
must be brought to justice. There can be no justification for violence,
which must be renounced as a way of bringing attention or putting
pressure to solve existing problems," he said.
President a.i. Micallef regretted the loss of life and expressed his
condolences to the families of the victims and the Turkish authorities,
Council of Europe Press Service reported.