The President of the Turkish Community in Germany, Gökay Sofuoglu, has called on the 1.2 million Turkish-descent voters in Germany to participate more actively in the upcoming federal election on February 23.
“It is very important for the political participation of the 1.2 million Turkish-descent people in Germany who have the right to vote. This includes going to the polls” he told the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (Wednesday editions). “Because this has a different impact on the political parties and the political development, compared to doing nothing.”
Sofuoglu added, “Last time, the voter turnout was, according to our findings, in some cases below 20 percent, which is of course very low. It should be at least as high as the voter turnout in Turkey, which ranges between 40 and 50 percent. The election results in Germany affect our lives much more than the election results in Turkey.”
The Turkish Community in Germany is launching a nationwide campaign on Thursday to encourage, in particular, Turkish-descent voters to exercise their right to vote and to inform them about the federal election. The campaign is taking place in Kiel, Hamburg, Essen, Koblenz, Stuttgart, Frankfurt am Main, Karlsruhe, Wiesbaden and Hannover and is expected to conclude on February 22, the day before the federal election.