Erdoğan Calls Voters to 'Perform Their Duty' Ahead of İstanbul Repeat Elections

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President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has spoken to journalists in İstanbul, making remarks on the June 23 İstanbul repeat election and the developments on the eastern Mediterranean.

Erdoğan called his party's voters to return to İstanbul from their hometowns where they went on holiday.

"Return of our citizens who went outside İstanbul is very, very important. We expect our fellow İstanbulites to perform their democratic duties. The voters will perform their duties."

While İstanbul is the largest city of Turkey with a population that exceeds 15 million, only 15 percent of the İstanbulites are registered in the city, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute. Hence the population of the city decreases significantly in summer months when the schools are closed as many people go to their hometowns or holiday destinations.

Erdoğan said that they hope their voters will be at the polling stations with "minimum loss," adding that they also aim to minimize the number of people who did not cast a vote, which was over 1,7 million in the canceled March 31 elections.

"People of Northern Cyprus also have rights"

Erdoğan also touched on the developments regarding the newly discovered oil and natural gas in the eastern Mediterranean.

The people of Northern Cyprus have rights on the resources just as Southern Cyprus do, according to the international law, Erdoğan said.

"We are determined to protect the rights of my Northern Cypriot brothers, our fellow Turks in the exclusive economic zones. For this reason, the drill ships we newly bought, our ships for search are heading to the area right now. For the protection of those, the relevant units of our Armed Forces are in the area," he added. (EMK/VK)