World Bulletin/News Desk

A Turkish association for disabled people has called on the Constitutional Court to annul a law that says blind citizens cannot cast their vote without supervision.

“So far, I could not cast my vote alone. Hundreds of thousands of disabled people cannot either. This practice prevents the expression of the will of disabled people,” Lokman Ayva, the chairman of Turkey’s White Moon Association who is blind, said on Thursday after filing a brief to Istanbul’s prosecution office. The case will be referred to the Constitutional Court.

Article 67 of the Turkish Constitution stipulates that citizens cast their vote without supervision. However, election law dictates that blind people be accompanied in order to cast their vote. 

“Can this be democracy? Can there be such a human right?” Ayva says, calling on the Constitutional Court to rule on this issue.

There are over 8 million disabled citizens in Turkey, of which 8.4 percent are visually impaired.

The application comes a day after the world commemorated the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.