Turkish candidates in Greece increased their votes

According to the data of the Greek Ministry of the Interior, 4 Turkish candidates from Western Thrace have been eligible to enter the Greek parliament. In the 2019 general election, parliamentary candidates from the Turkish minority in the Rhodope province received a total of 25,433 votes, while in the May 21, 2023 election, this number increased by 676 to 26,109.

In Xanthi province, parliamentary candidates from the Turkish minority received 16,558 votes in the 2019 elections, while the number of votes reached 17,841 with an increase of 1,283 in the last elections.

The candidate of the Radical Left Alliance (SYRIZA), Özgür Ferhat, registered the largest increase in the Rhodope province compared to the 2019 elections. Ferhat, who failed to be elected deputy with 5,384 votes in the previous elections, won the right to enter parliament by obtaining more than 12,000 votes in the 2023 elections.
In the news of the local media it was evaluated that the SYRIZA Party managed to be the first in the country only in the province of Rhodope thanks to the votes that Ferhat received.

While New Democracy was the leading party in 58 of the country’s 59 constituencies, SYRIZA finished ahead in the electoral race only in the Rhodope region, which also includes Komotini.

On the other hand, although the number of votes for Hüseyin Zeybek and Burhan Baran, who were elected to Xanthi MPs, increased, only the number of votes received by İlhan Ahmet of the PASOK party, who was expelled from the Western Thracian Turkish minority, increased. Advisory Council last year, decreased.

Özgür Ferhat and Hüseyin Zeybek from SYRIZA and İlhan Ahmet and Burhan Baran from PASOK were elected MPs in Western Thrace. (AA)