Trump Congratulates Erdogan Following Referendum Success

The White House announced on Monday that Donald Trump congratulated Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a telephone call on the Turkish people’s approval of the country’s constitutional amendment.

According to the Associated Press, the White House also stated that during this telephone conversation, the presidents of the two countries discussed the American missile strike on a Syrian government air base.

The report of the telephone conversation between the American president and the Turkish president came hours after the White House spokesman said that the United States would not comment on the Turkish referendum until the release of the international commission’s report.

At a press conference on Monday, April 17, Sean Spicer, the White House spokesman, announced that “an international commission is reviewing the Turkish constitutional referendum, and this commission will release its report within 10 to 12 days.”

Mr. Spicer added that “we will wait and let them do their work.”

However, hours later Reuters reported, citing sources in the Turkish presidency, that Donald Trump, the American president, congratulated Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a telephone call on his victory in the referendum.

The French news agency published a similar report citing Turkish state media and wrote that the American president congratulated his Turkish counterpart on the success of the constitutional referendum.

This position contrasts with the stance of European leaders, who have so far refrained from congratulating Mr. Erdogan and his supporters on the referendum.

In a statement on Monday, François Hollande, the French president, emphasized regarding the Turkish referendum that the referendum results indicate a “divided country” and advised Turkish authorities to respect European values and the voices of their opponents.

Mr. Hollande stressed that “it is only up to the Turkish people to decide on their political structure,” but at the same time reminded that France will continue to pay attention to the assessments of foreign observers regarding whether the voting was fair and free.

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, called on all sides to pursue dialogue and agreement while maintaining calm, and her foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel suggested considering a new strategy for the framework of her talks with Turkey.

Based on the preliminary count results announced by the Turkish election commission, supporters received approximately 51.41 percent and opponents 48.59 percent of the votes.

However, opponents quickly protested violations of regulations and claimed that if fraud and other illegal activities had not occurred, the opposition would have won by at least several percentage points.

Some European institutions and observer organizations have said that the campaign was highly unfair and the vote count was compromised due to late decisions by responsible institutions in changing the voting process and eliminating regulations that ensure the integrity of the voting.

In this regard, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe reminded that the Turkish referendum did not comply with international standards.

The monitoring committee of the European human rights organization stressed that the referendum process did not conform to the standards set by the Council of Europe, and both institutions in a joint statement alongside the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe emphasized that “the legal framework was not sufficient for holding a democratic referendum.”

These statements were met with a sharp response from Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish president.

He called on the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe on Monday evening to know its place and stressed that his country held the most democratic elections, an example of which is not seen in Western countries.

The new system of division of power, in which the presidency will have extensive powers, will be implemented after the 2019 general elections. Under this framework, Recep Tayyip Erdogan will have the possibility to remain in power until 2029.

Source: Radio Farda