09.04.2026 19:10
While the repercussions of the recent Provincial General Assembly Presidency elections, which were lost by the AK Party despite having a majority of votes in Bilecik, continue, CHP Bilecik Provincial Chairman Ali Özdemir stated that they have identified a party member who cast blank votes for their candidates, and that this individual has confessed to the incident. Özdemir mentioned that the member in question has been referred to the disciplinary committee.
In the elections for the Bilecik Provincial General Assembly, where the CHP has 10, the AK Party has 8, the MHP has 2, and the İYİ Party has 2 seats, the current President Ramazan Kurtulmuş received 11 votes, while CHP's İsmail Hakkı Elmas received 9 votes, and 2 votes were blank. Following these results, the current President Ramazan Kurtulmuş was re-elected for a 3-year term.
CHP MEMBER CAST A BLANK VOTE The fact that the CHP, which has 10 seats, received only 9 votes created a shock effect, while CHP Bilecik Provincial Chairman Ali Özdemir stated that they identified the party member who cast a blank vote for their own candidates and that he also confessed to this incident.
Özdemir said: "Recently, the public is aware that we experienced a well-known accident regarding the election of the Provincial General Assembly presidency. After this incident, we, as the Republican People's Party, initiated an investigation to fulfill our responsibilities in accordance with our party's statutes and principles up to this point. During this investigation, of course, we came across some data.
Based on this data, we tried to identify this person. Now, when we went to the Provincial General Assembly presidency election, there was a small ballot box. Because it was a small ballot box, all the votes cast in the ballot box were falling on top of each other. Since they were falling on top of each other, it became apparent during the counting of the votes who voted for what. We particularly wanted the ballot to be mixed up, but since the box was very small, there was no mixing. Because there was no mixing, one, two, three votes were counted for the AK Party, then for the CHP, CHP, and when it came to the 7th vote, it was blank. Then again, our candidate received a vote.
THEY RESIGNED So from this, we understand that our friend Mehmet Gündüz, who voted in the seventh position, is revealed to have cast a blank vote. After the election, our friends who are members of the Provincial General Assembly said, 'We cannot remain under this suspicion, we cannot stay under this suspicion. Therefore, we are resigning with our honor,' and they personally submitted their resignation letters from both the party and the Provincial General Assembly membership to me."
CHP Bilecik Provincial Chairman Ali Özdemir "PRESIDENT, DON'T PLAY WITH MY BREAD" Özdemir, continuing his statement, explained that after the emergence of this incident, he called 10 people one by one to his office and used the following expressions: "When it was time for our friend Mehmet Gündüz, the Provincial General Assembly Member from İnhisar, I asked, 'Why did you do it?' He replied, 'President, I didn't do it.' After I told him that there were images and he needed to watch them, he confessed that he did it. For us, his confession is not enough. How he did it is important to us. Despite my asking him, he said, 'Let's go out, President, I can't look my friends in the face, and I will explain this to you in detail outside.'
When we went out, he mentioned that two people came to talk to him, made certain promises to him, that these were economic promises, job promises, promotion promises, and he expressed all of these. After stating these, he said, 'Please allow me, I will document these for you.' I called him yesterday morning. When I asked if there was any development regarding this issue, he replied, 'President, please don't play with my bread.' He said, 'Give me a little time regarding this matter.' I said okay, we are giving you time, and the matter ended there."
"REFERRED TO THE DISCIPLINARY BOARD" CHP Bilecik Provincial Chairman Ali Özdemir explained that İnhisar Provincial General Assembly Member Mehmet Gündüz has been referred to the Disciplinary Board, stating, "The internal judicial bodies of the party will take the necessary actions regarding this matter. After this, we find it appropriate for the friend to act honorably and resign from the Provincial General Assembly membership as well. We leave it to his discretion," he said.
Özdemir finally stated, "In my opinion, this election is completely suspicious. It is an election that has never been seen in the history of Bilecik until now. I strongly condemn those who indulge in these incidents. I strongly condemn those who attempt these incidents, those who mediate in this, and those who get involved in these matters. But from now on, the elected Provincial General Assembly President is not a legitimate president in our eyes; he is a suspicious president. Due to being a suspicious president, it is his duty to resign. He should resign and the election should be renewed. I believe they will show sufficient sensitivity regarding this matter as well," he said.