This Photo Of Salt Bae Voting In Turkey Elections Is Civic Engagement At Its Finest
Memes and politics seem to come together quite often these days. While most of them aren't quite as enjoyable as the Obama-Biden memes of yore, a fun one did come out of the recent Turkish elections. In an important election day for Turkey's government on Sunday, June 24, one of your favorite meme stars took the time to add a little "spice" to the polls. This photo of Salt Bae voting in Turkey elections is the best thing you'll see today.
The Salt Bae nickname for Turkish chef Nusret Gökçe has been going strong ever since the meme of him expertly sprinkling salt on a steak basically took over the internet in January 2017, per Know Your Meme. Gökçe has done a lot with his Salt Bae fame (like season none other than Leonardo DiCaprio's food), and now Salt Bae has taken his signature move the election day polls in his home country of Turkey. Salt Bae posted a photo of himself casting his ballot on June 24 in only the way Salt Bae can, and I must say, Gökçe makes civic engagement look as cool as ever.
Gökçe posted the photo to his Twitter account with the caption:
9381 km den geldi.Bir oy bir oydur dedi. One vote is important so I have come this morning from far away for presidential election
His Turkish message of "...den geldi.Bir oy bir oydur dedi..." in the tweet as translated to English with Google as, "Done came to vote." OK, the signature Salt Bae pose combined with a translated message of "Done came to vote," is the epitome of election day swag.
It's clear from his tweet that Gökçe feels strongly about voting in Sunday's presidential election in Turkey, since he wrote in his tweet, "One vote is important so I have come this morning from far away for presidential election."
He has good reason to be excited about the prospect of change in the country. Per CNN, the June 24 election is the biggest threat to current President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's power in 15 years. Erdogan came to power as prime minister in 2003, and he even won a referendum in 2017 that will dissolve the position of prime minister and transform it into a "powerful executive presidency" for whoever wins Sunday's presidential election.
While Salt Bae didn't share which candidate he voted for, people were very much here for his signature voting pose.
Some people even noticed that Salt Bae got very dressed up for the occasion.
U.S. voters are taking notes to be like Salt Bae at the polls during the 2018 midterm elections in the United States in November.
Eagle-eyed Twitter users noticed the woman in the background of Salt Bae's election day photo, and they couldn't help but point out her look that seems to combine confusion with just a touch of wonderment.
Surprisingly, this isn't Salt Bae's first time showing off his signature move at the polls in Turkey. He also voted in Salt Bae style in his homeland's elections back in April 2017, per New York. Again, Gökçe didn't indicate at that time whether he voted for or against the narrowly passed referendum that gives Turkey's president the "authority to issue laws by decree."
Salt Bae indicated in his tweet that he had to travel 9,381 kilometers to get to his home country of Turkey to vote. Trekking long distances to make your voice heard in important election isn't all that uncommon. On May 25, 2018, the people of Ireland voted on an abortion referendum that would make abortion legal in the country, and plenty of native Irish voters flew long distances to cast their vote to repeal the eighth amendment that banned abortion in the country.
Thanks to their civic engagement, Ireland legalized abortion, by a margin of 68 to 32 percent of voters. The people of Turkey still have to wait for the results of the June 24 presidential and parliamentary elections, but at least they have the latest Salt Bae voting photo to keep them busy until then.
