The last word is not said after the referendum in Turkey

The last word is not said after the referendum in Turkey
2017-04-17 | Kurdo Baksi padlock

FOREIGN
It was a narrow victory for the yes side in the referendum, which gives greater powers to the President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The election results have not only surprised the President Erdogan, but also experts Feminist Perspective talked to. Kurdo Baksi reports from an even more polarized Turkey.



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Last Sunday, 86 percent of the electorate in Turkey to the polls. With more than 51 percent of the votes, won the yes side in the referendum, which came about after the president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, decided to gather all judicial, legislative and executive power in his own hands. The eighteen constitutional amendments that have voted, according to Erdogan's wishes, means that the President shall appoint and dismiss cabinet ministers as well as government leaders, to abolish the post of Prime Minister and appoint the majority of the judges from the 2019th

The referendum was being prepared for what is far from being regarded as a normal state in Turkey. Since the military coup in the summer state of emergency in the country. Erdogan and his AKP party has used state power and financial muscle to the yes campaign. In the state-owned television channels received no campaign only one minute every twenty minutes shows statistics. Throughout the election campaign has no-Yeomen repeatedly branded as traitors by the ruling AK Party and almost all media. Many no campaigns have been disturbed physically or legally by the regime. Temporary curfew has been declared as representatives of the no-side called for meetings. Still, it was a dead heat between yes and no.


How is it that?

- It differed much in resources for the yes side and the no side. The No side received nearly 50 percent of the vote means that Erdogan is no longer popular in Turkey. The result of the referendum is a big surprise for me and other turkey experts, says Cengiz Çandar, Turkey's best-known journalist, the feminist perspective.

- The election result was the worst possible. There are so narrowly that the referendum will lose its legitimacy. Had 54-55 percent voted yes, it had been different. Now it will be many complaints to the committee and the votes be counted again. The last word is not said.


No happy Erdogan
And Erdogan's willingness to declare themselves valsegrare quickly amazes Cengiz Çandar.

- Before all the votes were counted, Erdogan declared himself to valsegrare. It is very strange, says Çandar and notes that Turkey has entered a much greater crisis now than that the country was in before the referendum.

- There was no clear victory. It is a victory with many question marks and shadows. For me it is not the choice over yet. We'll see if it becomes a new count of votes. After the close outcome, Turkey is even more polarized, says Çandar also noted a concern of Erdogan's facial expressions during the victory speech on Sunday evening.

- It was not a happy Erdogan, who stood at the podium next to his wife and son in law Beraat Albayrak (Turkey's Energy Minister, editor's note). That he would lose in almost all major cities was nothing that Erdogan had been expected to take Çandar.


Those who voted no
The greatest resistance met Erdogan in the Turkish part of Kurdistan. Millions of Kurds voted against Erdogan.
Despite so much oppression against the Kurds refused Kurds vote for Erdogan's claim for increased power to him. And to stand against Erdogan showed the Kurds once again that they refuse to subjugate themselves, says journalist Nurcan Baysal from the Kurdish city of Diyarbakir.

But the main topic of conversation in Turkey right now are question marks about the election results.

- The election campaign was not fair and the election process was not correct. The country's highest electoral authorities changed the rules after the game had started, says Sezgin Tanrikulu, deputy leader of Turkey's main opposition party Republican People's Party, CHP.


A divided country
- With Sunday's elections has increased tensions between secular and non-secular groups in Turkey. Nearly 50 percent protested against Erdogan's constitutional changes, while an equal number voted for, says the Swedish-Turkish journalist Murat Kuseyri that followed the referendum carefully.

- But Erdogan has succeeded in one thing: Turkey is approaching fascism and dictatorship in rocket speed. And we must not forget one thing: there had been no 'had not been respected, Erdogan said Kuseyri on.

The representatives of the ruling AKP gave short speeches in which they tried to ignore that every citizen voted against an authoritarian system.

"We respect what people have voted. We are united as a people. There are no losers in the election, "said Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, who belongs to Erdogan's party AKP.
https://feministisktperspektiv.se/2017/04/17/turkiet-det-dolda-bakom-folkomrostningens-resultat/