Turkish Parliament faces inquiry over alleged fake voting ballots

A controversy has emerged in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey regarding the use of allegedly fake voting ballots during a vote on an energy agreement between Turkey and Saudi Arabia. CHP Gaziantep Deputy Hasan Öztürkmen submitted a parliamentary inquiry to Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş, alleging that the signatures of 76 deputies who were not present in the assembly hall were forged to cast votes via paper ballots.

In response to the inquiry, Deputy Speaker Bekir Bozdağ stated that the Presidency of the Assembly had identified the discrepancies. According to the response, once the electronic voting list was finalized, the Presidency determined which members using paper ballots were not actually present in the hall. Those specific ballots were subsequently declared invalid. However, Öztürkmen criticized the response, noting that the identities of those responsible for the forged signatures were not disclosed and no disciplinary sanctions were applied.