Eventful elections in Turkey: Topless protest, daylight savings time confusion – and eight dead
The women of the Femen organisation turned a large voting centre in Istanbul upside down as Turkish citizens went to the polls in local elections on March 30 2014.
Two women caught everyone by surprise when they arrived at a polling centre in Scutari, took off their shirts and climbed topless on the voting centre’s desks.
On their breasts they had written the motto “Ban Erdogan”. They said they wanted to protest against the bans on Twitter and YouTube imposed by the Turkish government.
The women chose the particular voting centre because the Turkish prime minister had voted there in the previous elections. This time however, Erdogan chose a different polling centre, within walking distance of the one where the protest took place.
There was confusion for 52.9 million Turkish voters because of the decision by the Turkish government to postpone for a day the change to daylight savings time. The reason for postponing the beginning of summer time, according to the Erdogan government, was to facilitate the smooth conduct of the elections, but nobody predicted the “new technology” factor. All smart phones of Turkish citizens changed the time automatically, resulting in thousands of voters going to the polls earlier having to wait for an hour to vote.
For the full story, please click here.
(Photos: Femen.org)
