07 June 2018•Update: 07 June 2018
By Izzet Taskiran, Duygu Yener and Safak Yel
ISTANBUL
Turks living abroad began voting on Thursday for the June 24 presidential and general elections at customs gates and foreign missions.
The voting process at custom gates of the airports, including Istanbul’s Ataturk and Sabiha Gokcen airports, Ankara’s Esenboga Airport and western Izmir’s Adnan Menderes Airport started at 8 a.m. local time (0500GMT).
“Let whoever is the best get elected. Let tranquility and peace prevail in our country,” Nazire Taskiran, who has been living in Germany for 45 years, told Anadolu Agency.
“We want peace, tranquility, and justice in our country. Best wishes,” Ahmet Aktan, another Turkish voter from Germany, told Anadolu Agency after casting his vote at the Ankara Esenboga Airport.
Turks also started voting at the Kapikule and Ipsala border gates in the northwestern Edirne province and at the Derekoy border gate in the northwestern Kirklareli province.
“I am very happy to have cast the first vote here. We love our country so much,” Suheyla Kara, who was the first expatriate to cast a vote at the Kapikule border gate, said.
She was traveling to the central Konya province from Belgium.
Some Turkish citizens also cast their votes at the customs gates of Ege port.
Expatriates will be able to vote 24 hours every day, including weekends at the border gates. The voting process will end at 5 p.m. local time [1400GMT] on June 24.
Over three million Turks living abroad are eligible to vote for the June 24 presidential and general elections.
Six candidates are in the running for the presidential race while eight political parties are taking part in the parliamentary elections.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has served as president since 2014 -- Turkey's first popularly-elected president. Before that, he served as prime minister from 2003 to 2014.
Should he win the June 24 election, Erdogan would be Turkey's first leader under the presidential system, which does away with the prime minister's post, among other changes.
