UK's Turkish community speaks out on British election

By Inci Gundag

LONDON

The Turkish-speaking community in the British capital have told Anadolu Agency they hope an end to austerity policies plus better services will be the outcome of Thursday’s snap general election.

Erdal Yetimova, the president of the Union of European Turkish Democrats (UETD), said not only Turkish-speaking voters but all British people hoped that cuts implemented under the ruling Conservative Party will end.

“There are demands for free education and health services, especially for students… The current government would like to carry on with cuts in social benefits,” Yetimova said, also claiming housing was an election issue, with house sales falling because of austerity measures.

He said the Turkish speaking community -- around 400,000 strong -- was facing hardship, especially due to high taxation and rents in the British capital.

Israfil Erbil, the head of the British Alevi Federation, said the Turkish-speaking community would cast their votes after carefully looking into the various parties’ election manifestos.

Erbil also told Anadolu Agency there was not a single school which provided education in Turkish in the Enfield area of London where up to 70,000 Turkish-speaking people live.

He also said voters were demanding “better education, better health services and a safer London”.

Erbil said both main U.K. parties -- Conservatives and Labour -- had been making efforts to connect with Turkish and Turkish Cypriot communities.

“We are aware that the number of young voters who are entitled to vote or to get elected since the last election rose significantly because we have a young community.

“It is a good thing that parties see this too. They will not be able to overlook the community’s demands; they will look at them more positively,” Erbil added.

Forty-seven-year-old Mithat Karakus, a cashier who has lived in the U.K. for the past 20 years, favors the Labour Party.

“The Conservatives have put pressure on people. Social benefits, as well as some services used by people were stopped,” he told Anadolu Agency.

Saliha Ozcelik, who has been a cook at a nursery for 20 years, also says she would like to see a Labour government under party leader Jeremy Corbyn.

“We want house prices to drop. The rents are too high. Our salaries do not rise but taxes keep going up every year,” she added.

Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May called the snap election to win backing for a new government which will almost immediately face Brexit negotiations on June 19.

Latest projected polls suggest a narrow advantage for her party over Labour, which had been trailing badly in the polls until recently.

Security has dominated campaigning since deadly terrorist attacks in Manchester and London claimed dozens of lives, putting pressure on the government to explain policing cuts and apparent failures by the security services to stop the killers.

British voters will go to polls on Thursday between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. local time.