Parlement van Raad van Europa geschokt over aanslag op Turkse kandidaat voor parlement (en)

Press release - 518(2007)

PACE President shocked after the assassination of Turkish poll candidate

Strasbourg, 17.07.2007 - Council of Europe i Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) President René van der Linden today said he was shocked by the assasination, this morning in Istanbul, of Tuncay Seyranlioglu, an independent candidate running in the 22 July parliamentary elections in Turkey.

"I wish to extend my condolences, on behalf of the Parliamentary Assembly, to the family of the victim. Such a barbaric act must not undermine the will of the Turkish people to organise under the best possible conditions next Sunday's parliamentary elections and to demonstrate their sense of responsibility for the future of the country," Mr van der Linden declared.

A 32-member delegation from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), headed by Luc Van den Brande (Belgium, EPP/CD), will observe the elections. The delegation will be in the country from 19 to 23 July. It will meet the representatives of political parties, electoral officials, members of civil society and will be deployed around the country to observe the voting in a representative cross-section of polling stations.

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