Turks vote today on president’s powers
Erdogan says stability, prosperity at stake; opposition warns of autocratic rule
ISTANBUL — On the day before Turkey’s referendum on whether to expand the president’s powers, “yes” and “no” campaigners addressed flag-waving supporters Saturday in Istanbul and Ankara.
At stake is the future of Turkey’s political system, with supporters saying the constitutional changes will herald a period of stability and prosperity. Detractors warn that the changes could lead to an autocratic, oneman rule by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Fierce campaigning took place Saturday, right up to a 6 p.m. deadline.
Erdogan has long championed the idea of changing Turkey’s system of government from parliamentary to presidential. He is calling on his countrymen to vote today to approve 18 constitutional changes that would abolish the office of the prime minister, handing all executive power to the president.
The changes also would remove the requirement for presidential neutrality, allowing Erdogan to reinstate his affiliation with the ruling Justice and Development party he co-founded; enable the president to stand in two five-year election cycles, and a third with parliamentary backing; and allow the president to appoint six of a whittled-down panel of 13 top judges, with others chosen by lawmakers.
“The new constitution will bring stability and trust that is needed for our county to develop and grow,” Erdogan told supporters Saturday in Istanbul’s Tuzla district. He also appealed to voters of other parties to approve the changes so “Turkey can leap into the future.”
“Is it a ‘yes’ for one nation? Is it a ‘yes’ for one flag? Is it a ‘yes’ for one homeland? Is it a ‘yes’ for one state? Yes, yes, yes!” he said.
Erdogan said the proposed changes could help counter a series of threats, including a failed military coup last year and a string of deadly bombings, some attributed to the Islamic State militant group. Fighting also resumed in 2015 between security forces and Kurdish rebels in the southeast of the country.
But critics argue that Erdogan, who has been at the helm of Turkish government as prime minister or president since 2003, will simply cement his hold on power with even fewer checks and balances if the “yes” side wins.
“Turkey is at a junction. We will make our decision tomorrow. Do we want a democratic parliamentary system or do we want a oneman regime?” Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party, asked supporters in the capital, Ankara.
THE OPPOSITION
In Istanbul on Saturday, thousands of “no” supporters waving Turkish flags marched along the Bosporus.
The opposition has complained of a lopsided campaign, with Erdogan using the full resources of the state and the governing party to dominate the airwaves and blanket the country with “yes” campaign posters. “No” campaigners say they have recorded more than 100 reports of intimidation, beatings and arbitrary detentions.
Erdogan has painted supporters of the “no” campaign as bent on destabilizing the nation, accusing them of siding with those blamed for the attempted coup in July.
“Sunday will be a turning point in our struggle against terrorism,” Erdogan said.
The referendum comes as Turkey is still under a state of emergency declared after the failed coup. About 100,000 people, including judges, lawyers, teachers, journalists and police, have been dismissed from their jobs. More than 40,000 people, including opposition pro-Kurdish legislators, have been arrested. Hundreds of news outlets and nongovernmental organizations have been shut down.
“We want peace, freedom, democracy. We will have these with a ‘no’ vote tomorrow,” Pervin Buldan, a lawmaker from the opposition pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party, said at a rally in the predominantly Kurdish province of Diyarbakir.
Security will be tight for today’s vote, with nearly 34,000 police deployed in Istanbul alone. The Islamic State has called for attacks against the referendum.
On Saturday, Turkey’s official Anadolu news agency said 49 people, including 41 foreigners, were detained on suspicion of planning attacks during the vote.
TIES WITH RUSSIA
If the “yes” side prevails, Erdogan has the potential to hold the reins until at least 2029. That’s a decade longer than the rule of Ataturk, the father of the modern secular nation that Erdogan has sought to roll back.
While clinching power at home, Erdogan has aimed to turn his foreign alliances on their head. He’s sought to repair his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin — a staunch ally of the Syrian regime of Bashar Assad that Erdogan opposes — while threatening to reconsider ties with the European Union, a bloc Turkey had been trying to join for half a century.
When countries like the Netherlands stopped Turkish ministers from campaigning on their soil last month, Erdogan accused them of Nazi practices, throwing a critical deal on halting the flow of migrants to Europe into jeopardy.
Erdogan’s authoritarian turn was slow at first, as his Justice and Development party enjoyed popular support and won three straight parliamentary elections.
Back then, the media had more freedom to criticize the government, and the judiciary had greater independence. But gradually, laws were changed to make it easier for the ruling party to, for instance, make judicial appointments and enrich pro-government businesses with state contracts.
And when anti-government protests broke out in mid-2013, Erdogan came down hard. Within months, he quashed a corruption probe targeting his government by purging police and judges he accused of being sympathizers of former ally Fethullah Gulen, an influential U.S.-based Islamic preacher with millions of followers.
The two had a falling out that year, and Erdogan has blamed Gulen for orchestrating the 2016 coup attempt.