Erdogan: Turkish People Voted in Favor of Constitutional Changes

Turkey’s president announced the government’s victory in the constitutional referendum.

Meanwhile, opposition parties to the Turkish government have questioned the legitimacy of the constitutional referendum.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Sunday evening, April 17, that preliminary vote count results indicate that more than 51 percent of Turkish voters approved the government’s proposed constitutional changes.

In a statement read in Istanbul on this occasion, Mr. Erdogan said that the changes approved would not be implemented until 2019.

Based on reports published by the state-run Anadolu Agency based on a count of approximately 99 percent of votes, the votes of opponents of the constitutional changes were reported at 48.7 percent.

Meanwhile, Binali Yıldırım, Turkey’s prime minister, also announced that preliminary reports indicate that votes in favor of constitutional changes were greater.

This is while Erdal Aksünger, deputy chair of Turkey’s main opposition party, said his party has contested votes in approximately 37 percent of polling stations and this figure could be higher.

This party, which champions Turkish Kurds and also opposes the country’s constitutional changes, announced that on Sunday morning it identified approximately two and a half million votes with problems. The party announced it will contest votes from approximately two-thirds of polling stations.

The eighteen constitutional amendments in Turkey’s constitution were put to a vote by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s president, and if approved would transform Turkey’s parliamentary system into a presidential one. In this case, the position of prime minister would be eliminated and the powers of the president would be increased.

Opponents believe these changes would lead to dictatorship in Turkey. They are concerned that such a change could result in autocratic rule by Erdogan, who so far has suppressed freedoms and could remain in power for the next twelve years.

But Mr. Erdogan has argued that changing to a presidential system would prevent the emergence of weak governments and would ultimately lead to a period of long-term peace and stability.

Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, leader of the main opposition party, also cast his vote on Sunday. Opponents say that during campaigns to explain their views they faced more than a hundred arrests and threats.

Observers from an organization comprising 57 European countries, known as the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, monitored the voting in Turkey’s referendum. The head of the observer group sent to Turkey said that a month prior, this group had been stationed in Turkey to assess the process of holding this referendum, including media activity, legal framework, and compliance with international standards.

Source: Voice of America