Victorious Erdogan pledges shake-up
AN EMBOLDENED Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan followed his win in a referendum that ratified the supremacy of his rule by taking aim at political opponents at home and abroad.
At his victory speech late on Sunday, supporters chanted that he should bring back the death penalty – a move that would finish off Turkey’s bid to join the EU – and Erdogan warned opponents not to bother challenging his win.
He told them to prepare for the biggest overhaul of the country’s system of governance yet, one that will result in him having even fewer checks on his already considerable power.
“Today, Turkey has made a historic decision,” he said. “We will change gears and continue along our course more quickly.”
The success of a package of 18 changes to the constitution was narrow, with about 51.4% of Turks approving it.
It came at the end of a divisive twomonth campaign during which Erdogan accused opponents of the vote of supporting “terrorists”.
“The referendum campaign was dominated by strongly anti-Western rhetoric and repeated promises to bring back the death penalty,” said Inan Demir, an economist at Nomura Holdings in London.
“One hopes this rhetoric will be tempered now that the vote is over” but recent steps by the Turkish government “do not bode well for the hoped-for moderation in international relations”.
Most of the changes won’t take effect until after the next presidential election in November 2019.
While markets looked favourably on the result as a sign political turmoil in the majority Muslim nation of 80 million people may settle down and help jumpstart the economy, Turkey’s biggest political party alleged fraud, demanding a recount.
The EU’s rapporteur on Turkey, Kati Piri, said that given the “unfair election environment”, EU accession talks will be suspended if the constitution is passed in its current form. The European Commission said the constitutional amendments, and their implementation, “will be assessed in light of Turkey’s obligations” as an accession candidate and as a member of the Council of Europe.
French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron predicted that Turkey’s EU membership won’t progress in coming years.
“You saw how the West attacked. But despite this, the nation stood tall, didn’t get divided,” Erdogan told his supporters, while calling on Turks who opposed him to “stop tiring themselves out” and accept the course the country is headed on.
“Likewise, we want other countries and institutions to respect the decision of our people. We expect those states that we call allies in particular to develop their relations with our country in line with our sensitivities, especially in the fight against terror,” he said in Istanbul. – Bloomberg