Mansur Yavaş's campaign manager Suat Kınıklıoğlu, writing in Radikal (summary/excerpts translated by @06Jank):

"The first physical attack came at the İvedik OSB. Then the threats from within the state started: 'Stay at home', 'be careful', 'there may be attacks on you and your children'. This happened in Ankara, not Lice in Diyarbakır."

Our phones were tapped. In the last week we were followed. The aim was to minimise time campaigning and it succeeded.

On election night we saw a well-planned plot. First Cihan News was taken down with a cyber attack, creating a monopoly on results. They gave the impression that a huge difference had opened up between Yavaş and Gökçek. This made CHP observers in many districts leave. Unlike Istanbul, which has 2.5 times the number of electors, results in Ankara couldn't be collected by 1am. The reason became clear.

At 1.30am the districts where Mansur was strong began to come in. At 3am the news came from the YSK that Mansur was 27,507 votes ahead. Only boxes in Çankaya and Yenimahalle remained to be counted. And yet, we didn't see this reflected on our TV screens. For an hour, Anadolu Agency stopped results, so it didn't show Mansur had gone ahead. Then Ministers were sent to counting stations. The Interior Minister, the Justice Minister and various Members of Parliament turned up at Kalaba, Yenimahalle and Seyranbağları.

It seemed Yavaş had won Çankaya with 75% and Yenimahalle with 55%. Then after a press conference, new information came from the YSK. At 4am, new results from Altındağ, Sincan and Gölbaşı came out. According to these 'results', Melih Gökçek was now 30,000 votes ahead.

The picture became clear. The election we had won on the ground had been lost at a desk. 23% of the vote count totals were illegitimate, having no official seal. Without counting those, Mansur would be 47,997 votes ahead. In addition, 124,000 votes were counted as spoilt, there was misattribution and transfer of vote counts, and other illegal practices. The YSK rejecting Mansur's appeal was a historical anomaly. Electoral Law 298 is clear on the subject of vote counts without seals.

Maybe Yavaş could not have been allowed to win, for he was competing not just with Gökçek, but with the government, state and mafia. Mansur Yavaş is appealing to the Constitutional Court, but in all likelihood, life will continue as though these events never happened in the capital city of our Republic.

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