June 14, 2018•Update: June 14, 2018
By Sibel Kurtoglu
YALOVA, Turkey
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that eligibility requirements for presidential candidates will be changed after the upcoming elections.
Not only convicts but also those under arrest will not be able to run for president after the elections, said Recep Tayyip Erdogan addressing his ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party rally in the northwestern Yalova province.
“Eighty public buildings, around 300 schools, over 70 political party buildings, and more than 2,100 houses have been attacked, destroyed, vandalized. Where? In Diyarbakir, in the southeastern [Turkey].
“All this happened because of the provocation of the person in Edirne prison,” Erdogan said, referring to the jailed ex-chairman of Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Selahattin Demirtas who is one of the presidential candidates.
In November 2016, Demirtas along with 12 HDP lawmakers, were arrested on terror-related charges. Demirtas remains in custody pending trial.
This April, the parliament passed a bill for early elections on June 24, cementing Turkey’s move to a presidential system.
In an April 2017 referendum, Turkish voters had approved the switch from a parliamentary system to a presidential one.
