Turkey takes cyber security measures for local polls

ANKARA

Turkey took all measures to prevent cyberattacks that would interfere in its upcoming local polls, the country's transport and infrastructure minister said Friday.

Cahit Turhan told Anadolu Agency's Editors' Desk that Turkey's Computer Emergency Response Team (TR-CERT) is prepared for the elections slated for March 31.

"Today, communication is done through electronic systems," Turhan said, adding that besides offering advantages, those systems are also vulnerable to threats.

"Our ministry established the TR-CERT [in 2014] not only for election security, but also to prevent all kinds of cyberattacks.

"Until today, we have been successfully operating the TR-CERT and have prevented hundreds of thousands of attacks," he said.

The minister noted that 1,300 personnel are continually working on cyber incidents.

Stressing the importance of timely and accurate news, Turhan added: "The TR-CERT took precautions to protect news agencies in particular as well as TV channels against the possibility of cyberattacks on voting day."

Turkey is gearing up with 57 million voters for local elections in which a total of 12 political parties will participate.

Apart from the ballot boxes to be set up in prisons, over 44 million voters will vote at 142,777 ballot boxes in the country’s 30 metropolitan municipalities.

Meanwhile, nearly 13 million voters will vote at 51,851 ballot boxes in the country's remaining 51 provinces.

*Writing by Muhammed Ali Gurtas