ANKARA (AA) - Ahmet Muratli, the representative of Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITC) in Turkey, and Prof. Dr. Ihsan Dogramaci of Turkmen origin cast their votes for Iraqi elections in Ankara on Saturday.
Muratli told reporters, ``we, as ITC, attended elections and cast vote for our future. I hope elections will be good for Iraqi people and Turkmens.``
``Today, the number of Kurds who were brought to Kirkuk additionally exceeds 60,000. Earlier 100,000 Kurds were registered for elections. Thus, there are nearly 160,000 Kurdish voters in Kirkuk,`` he added.
Muratli noted, ``until today, coalition forces, especially Britain, showed number of Iraqi people abroad as 3 million and number of voters as 1 million. However, current figures show that there are only 288,000 voters in 14 countries.``
Meanwhile, Prof. Dogramaci told reporters after casting his vote, ``today is very important for Iraq and especially for Turkmen society in that country. I hope elections reflect reality and become a stage for democratic future of Iraq.``
Iraqi citizens in Turkey, on Friday, started to cast their votes for elections in Iraq which will be held on January 30th.
A total of 4178 Iraqi electorate will vote in three centers in Ankara and Istanbul.
Iraqis will cast votes in 14 countries which are Turkey, Australia, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Iran, Jordan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Syria, United Arab Emirates and the United States.
2005-01-29