Søren Gade supports his parliamentary colleague in the matter of the entry ban: “That’s not how a democracy works”

It is wrong that Member of Parliament Søren Søndergaard (EL) cannot enter Turkey as an official election observer.

This is what the Speaker of the Folketing, Søren Gade (V), says in a press release on Saturday, the day before Turkey holds elections.

“I distance myself from Turkey’s announcement that they will not grant entry to Søren Søndergaard as a member of the OSCE PA’s election observation”.

“It is an important principle that all international observers, regardless of their political views, must have access to control an election. We cannot have a situation where a country says yes to some observers and no to others. That’s not how a democracy works,’ says Søren Gade.

Søren Søndergaard told May 4 TV 2that the reason for the Turkish rejection of him is that he has participated in events which, according to Turkey, have “promoted a terrorist organisation”.

Søndergaard should have been part of the delegation that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is sending to the country, which is holding elections on Sunday.

Here, the Turkish people must elect their president and members of parliament.

Søren Søndergaard has told TV 2 that he has visited those “who fought the Islamic State – the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)”.

In a written comment to Ritzau on May 4, he also said that it is “unacceptable that Turkey will deny a member of parliament access to the country as an election observer”.

“Of course, it is not the country holding the election that must decide whether specific election observers are welcome into the country”.

“In order to do its job, a delegation must precisely represent a broad range of attitudes and viewpoints. It’s a democratic lesson for children”, said Søren Søndergaard.