Upon invitation of the government of the Kyrgyz Republic, the delegation of the Turkic Council International Observer Mission headed by Deputy Secretary General Dr. Ömer Kocaman started monitoring the Presidential Elections of Kyrgyzstan on 13 October 2017 in Osh.
First, the mission delegation met with First Vice Mayor of Osh city Zamirbek Askarov and Vice Mayor of Osh city Asylbek Topchubaev. In the course of the meeting, the parties exchanged views on the upcoming Presidential Elections, while the delegation was briefly informed on the pre-electoral process. Giving information on the Turkic Council and its activities, Deputy Secretary General Kocaman also reported on the functions and objectives of the mission in the scope of the monitoring activities.
Afterwards, the delegation visited the representatives of the Election Commission in the city of Osh Abdijalil Muratov and Rasulbek Kadyrov. The commission officials answered the questions of the delegation concerning the technical issues of the election process and explained the working mechanism of automated electoral system, which was successfully implemented during the past Parliamentary Elections and Constitutional Referendum.
Following the meetings, the delegation got acquainted with the preparation processes at the polling stations, where the commission chairmen elaborated on the technicalities and voting procedures at place.
Deputy Secretary General Kocaman expressed gratitude to his interlocutors for their hospitality and wished success for the elections.
Project Director Farid Damirli, Research Expert Dastan Almen, Senior Expert from International Turkic Academy Timur Kozyrev and Research Assistant from Social Sciences University of Ankara Ömer Naim Küçük accompanied the Deputy Secretary General Kocaman during the visits in the city of Osh.