Erdogan not out of the woods

TURKEY’S President Recep Tayyip Erdogan emerged victorious from last Sunday’s referendum, but his slim margin of victory may actually have weakened his rule.

Opposition to his power grab is forming. Nothing can hold them back. Not the rain, not the wind and not the wellarmed anti-terrorism police.

On Tuesday, several thousand demonstrators marched through Istanbul, including students, pensioners, women in head scarves and punks, and many of them held up signs: “No to the presidency!”

They also chanted: “Thief! Murderer! Erdogan!” And: “This is just the beginning. Our fight goes on!”

The protests began a few hours after Erdogan claimed victory in the referendum that grants him significantly expanded powers and the demonstrations have become larger on each successive day since then, spreading to more than three dozen cities.

People in Ankara and Izmir, in Adana and Mersin, in Edirne and Canakkale have taken to the streets in opposition to Erdogan, accusing him of having manipulated the vote on the referendum.

According to media reports, the electoral commission accepted up to 2.5 million ballots despite their not having been stamped in accordance with the rules.

Election observers from the OSCE found significant shortcomings with the vote, outlined in a 14-page preliminary report that also noted the unfairness of the campaign leading up to the referendum.

The vote itself, the organisation found, also violated some aspects of Turkish law. The opposition has refused to recognise the results.

For the time being, only a small portion of the Turkish population is rising up against the government, with a total of 20 000 people thought to have participated in the nationwide protests. – Der Spiegel