Polls put ‘yes’ vote slightly ahead

PKK militants claim responsibility for blast in city

ISTANBUL, April 12, (Agencies): Two Turkish opinion polls on Wednesday showed a narrow majority of Turks, between 51-52 percent, would vote “yes” in Sunday’s referendum on changing the constitution to create an executive presidency.

Voters in Turkey go to the polls on April 16 to decide whether to give Erdogan sweeping new powers. Voting for Turks living abroad finished on Sunday.

A survey by pollsters ANAR put the “yes” vote at 52 percent. Its poll was conducted face-to-face with more than 4,000 people on April 5-10 in 26 provinces. The number of undecided voters has fallen to 8 percent, it said, adding that led to a two percentage point boost for “yes” since the start of March.

Similarly, the Konsensus polling company put the “yes” vote at 51.2 percent after the distribution of undecided voters. It conducted its survey face-toface with 2,000 people on April 2-8 in 41 provinces.

Erdogan has spent much of his recent campaign attacking the head of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which is spear-heading the “no” camp. He has accused its leader, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, of lying, language Kilicdaroglu has said is not fitting of a president.

On Tuesday, Erdogan ridiculed the opposition leader for losing the last seven elections. “The people don’t like you, they don’t embrace you. The truth is plain,” he said during a televised meeting with university students.

The referendum campaign has damaged Turkey’s ties with some European allies. Erdogan has described the banning on security grounds of some rallies by Turkish ministers in the Netherlands and Germany as “Nazi-like” tactics.

Germany has called the references unacceptable. But Erdogan has continued undeterred, repeatedly accusing Germany of harbouring members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), an accusation Berlin has denied.

“Germany is currently sheltering terrorists. I say it openly. When I say they have resurrected Nazism they go crazy. Why do you go crazy? That’s what you’ve done, that’s why I say it,” Erdogan said at Tuesday night’s event.

Erdogan said this week that Turks living overseas had turned out strongly to vote, which pollsters say could benefit him.

Turkey’s ambassador to Switzerland has denied that his embassy spied on expatriate Turks, distancing his staff from a criminal investigation by Swiss prosecutors into suspected espionage.

The probe has drawn Switzerland into a dispute between Ankara and several European nations as Turkey seeks to drum up support in its diaspora in the run-up to a referendum on Sunday on expanding the powers of President Tayyip Erdogan.

“It is certain that no such activities were conducted within the realm of our embassy,” Ambassador Ilhan Saygili was quoted as telling broadcaster SRF’s Rundschau programme in an interview to be aired on Wednesday night.

Strolling down the quayside in Izmir, a liberal bastion on Turkey’s Aegean Coast, Kubilay Mutlu and his Street Orchestra sing of “the naked emperor” and the collapse of sultanates in a bid to rally “no” voters ahead of Sunday’s historic referendum.

With mainstream media saturated by pro-government campaigning ahead of the vote on broadening President Tayyip Erdogan’s powers, those opposed to the changes are seeking alternative channels to get their message across.

“No” supporters have complained of threats and bans from the authorities, and a report by one non-governmental group said television coverage of the “yes” campaign had been ten times more extensive than that of the opposition.

Turks living overseas are turning out in greater numbers to vote in a referendum on changing the constitution to create an executive presidency, President Erdogan said on Tuesday, a development that pollsters say could benefit him.

Voters in Turkey will go to the polls on April 16 to decide on the referendum that would give Erdogan sweeping new powers. Voting for expatriate Turks began as early as late March in some countries and finished on Sunday.

The referendum campaign has brought a rapid deterioration in relations with some of Turkey’s European allies over the banning of some rallies by Turkish ministers in the Netherlands and Germany on security grounds, something Erdogan has denounced as “Nazilike” tactics.

Kurdish militants on Wednesday claimed responsibility for a bomb attack on a police compound in southeast Turkey that killed three people, saying more than 2 tonnes of explosives were planted in a tunnel under the complex.

The blast on Tuesday tore through the compound in Diyarbakir, the largest city in the mainly Kurdish southeast.

Authorities initially said the explosion, days before a referendum on expanding President Tayyip Erdogan’s powers, appeared to have occurred during repairs to an armoured vehicle but later said it was a terrorist attack.

An explosion that hit a police station in the mainly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir was a “terror attack” carried out with a ton of explosives planted inside a tunnel, Turkish officials said Wednesday.

The blast occurred Tuesday at a workshop inside the police complex as an armored vehicle was being repaired. A police officer and two civilian employees were killed.

The Diyarbakir governor’s office said five people were detained in connection with the attack.

Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu had announced after the explosion that it appeared to be accidental, with no “outside intervention.”