Presidential candidate Demirtas votes in Diyarbakir

Opposition candidate casts his vote in Turkey's first directly elected presidential election.

Presidential candidate Demirtas votes in Diyarbakir
Selahattin Demirtas, the presidential candidate for the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democracy Party, has cast his vote in the country's presidential election on Sunday.

“Turkey has experienced a huge leap in politics. This election is an important step,” said Demirtas after voting in the city of Kayapinar in Turkey’s southeastern province of Diyarbakir.

Demirtas said that, no matter who wins the election, Turkey’s struggle for democracy will not be over.

“The fight for democracy will continue,” he said.

Millions of Turks are voting on Sunday in the country's first election of a president by popular vote.

More than 53 million Turks are eligible to vote in the election, which is widely seen to be a referendum on the leadership of the most prominent candidate, current Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The former head of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation, 70-year-old Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, is the joint presidential candidate for Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party and Nationalist Movement Party.
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