Ankara Municipality on Wednesday forced its workers to attended an election rally for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, making them sign attendance lists, opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet reported .
Erdoğan spoke yesterday at a mass rally in the Turkish capital for local elections on March 31.
According to some experts and pollsters, there will be a tight race in Ankara, as Mansur Yavaş, Ankara mayoral candidate for the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the nationalist Good Party may have a chance of taking the city from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
Cumhuriyet said around 1,000 Ankara municipality security personnel were gathered on Wednesday in front of the municipality’s Youth and Culture centre and taken to the rally area by bus after signing attendance lists.
Some of the security staff told Cumhuriyet that they were waiting to go to Erdoğan’s rally, as otherwise they would risk losing their jobs.
“We do not want to go to such rallies. But we are obliged to. We are concerned about our jobs. We have families, children. Ours is a fight for earning bread,” a municipal worker told Cumhuriyet under the condition of anonymity.
Cumhuriyet said female municipality personnel were gathered at a different spot and carried in different shuttle buses, separate from the men.
Source: Ahval News
