The Presidency's Directorate of Communications on Wednesday countered a series of allegations regarding ballots for the upcoming elections this Sunday, one of the presidential contenders, and a meeting with the PKK terrorist group’s ringleader Abdullah Öcalan.
"The claim that the Supreme Election Council (YSK) will convene about the ‘black dot’ under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s name on the ballots. The misprint could invalidate votes is entirely false," the directorate said in its weekly bulletin.
Some 225 ballots with printing errors detected in the Netherlands were separated from the bunch without being used and a report was submitted regarding the error, the directorate informed.
"Moreover, the misprint is not accepted as a distinguishing mark that is put on the ballot by the voter and invalidates the vote. It’s a baseless rumor that the YSK will assemble to address such an issue," it said.
It further informed that a misprint was detected on Erdoğan’s picture on the ballot for the 2018 presidential elections at a station in the Kocaeli province and the vote was deemed valid regardless of the voter’s choice.
Turning to presidential candidate Muharrem Ince, the directorate refuted the claim spread by social media accounts linked to the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) that Türkiye’s national television network TRT was "only showing Ince" in its broadcast.
"As part of election propaganda program on TRT, presidential candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu delivered the first speech, followed by Sinan Oğan, Muharrem Ince and President Erdoğan," the bulletin read.
It also dismissed the rumor that a member of the judiciary was sent to meet with Öcalan on Imralı, a small prison island in the Marmara Sea, where the PKK ringleader has been jailed since his capture in 1999.
"A group of four, including a mechanical engineer, construction and electricity engineers, as well as an investigating judge to oversee and coordinate the crew, were deployed to the island on March 21, 2023, after a storm on Feb. 5-7 damaged the rooftops of facilities used by the gendarmerie command," the directorate informed.
"Only service buildings and convenience facilities used by the island’s gendarmerie command were inspected. The prison section housing the convicts was not visited or inspected in any way. Documents from the Justice Ministry disprove the claims," it said.
Voters will be heading to polls to elect Türkiye’s 13th president between four candidates: Erdoğan and Kılıçdaroğlu, along with two more minor candidates.
Recent polls showed a neck-to-neck race between Kılıçdaroğlu and Erdoğan, who was ahead of his rival by over four points.
Kılıçdaroğlu has the backing of the PKK-affiliated Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), which has spurred the approval of terrorist ringleaders and criticism from nationalist partners and opponents alike.
Erdoğan often lambasts him for "acting under the instructions of PKK ringleader."