There are no statistics on the number, gender, age distribution, disability situation regarding the people who live on the streets in Turkey. The competent public authority on this issue is the Ministry of Family. Again, there is no public information about how many women with disabilities who live in shelters due to the violence they have experienced, are able to vote. This information is not available to the public. For this reason, it is not possible to determine how many of the people with disabilities’ rights have been violated through the system where electoral rolls are formed through address registration. AMER has applied to the YSK before the last three elections, to grant the right to vote for the homeless, in accordance with Article 25 of the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, but these applications were rejected on the grounds of domestic legislation. Official election materials (informative documents, ballots, orientation material in polling stations) are not available yet in accessible formats or sufficiently accommodating for persons with disabilities, illiterate people or those who cannot speak Turkish. This is an important issue, since the available statistics show that illiteracy rate is high in Turkey among persons with disabilities. Furthermore, this rate goes up parallel with age. Also, as there are many different ethnic groups in Turkey, many of the elderly do not speak Turkish. This group is also often neglected and rendered invisible. In this respect, AMER applied to the Supreme Board of Elections (YSK) in 2015 prior the June 7, 2015 elections, requesting that the election training videos published by the YSK to be available in multiple languages, and notably in Kurdish. While the YSK first rejected the application, it later decided to allow the presence of translators in polling stations.13 This decision is important not only for those whose mother tongue is not Turkish, but also for those who are illiterate and persons with hearing impairments. However, no measures have been taken based on this decision14, such as the presence of translators in sign language or other languages in polling stations. The YSK did not even publish this decision on its website nor did it inform polling station representatives of the measures to be taken. The participation rates of voters with disabilities in elections are not shared as statistics by the YSK. However, the participation rates contained in the replies of Turkey to the Committee, indicate that it is about 10 points below the general participation rate in the last three general elections. 13 14 Yüksek Seçim Kurulu (Supreme Board of Elections), 27.05.2015, decision n.1040. IHOP, op. cit., and AMER, 2016, op. cit., p. 16 23