OSCE report on referendum 'baseless — EU Minister

Adjust Comment Print

Yildirim said the "the path to seek rights" should be limited to legal objections and urged the opposition to accept the vote's outcome.

Turkey's Supreme Electoral Board (YSK) made a controversial last-minute decision on April 16 to count ballots that had not been stamped by officials.

That drew a harsh rebuke from Erdogan and criticism from Prime Minister Binali Yildirim. The main opposition party has demanded the result be nullified, saying the voting was marred by irregularities.

'Here we have a ballot box - the democracy gets its power from the people. Turkey's main opposition party has filed a formal request seeking Sunday's referendum to be annulled because of voting irregularities.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Erdogan and Trump would meet in person next month, before a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation summit.

Electoral board head Sadi Guven said the objections would be evaluated later on Wednesday.

Hurriyet said around 14 protesters were detained by the police in the Mediterranean province of Antalya, where a majority of people voted against the constitutional changes in Sunday's referendum. At the height of the migrant crisis, the European Union struck a deal with Turkey to provide visa-free access to the Shenzhen area and several multi-billion euros in order to assist Ankara with refugee crisis and Turkey, in turn, promised to take back refugees.

Erdogan lashed back at the global monitors' initial findings, telling them to "know their place", Reuters reported.

Wells Fargo claws back $75M from former executives
The bank remains under investigation in several states, as well as by the Securities and Exchange Commission, for its practices. Plath applauded the board for publishing its full investigation and the independent manner in which it was conducted.

The new system outlined under the constitutional changes will take full effect at the next election, slated for November 2019.

It means he can appoint judges, senior cabinet members and implement legislative changes without consulting parliament.

Talking of the margin of victory, he said: 'I come from a football background, ' he said. "We share our report and we completed our mandate".

Erdogan himself has told critics to "talk to the hand", adding that Turkey will not "see, hear, nor acknowledge" political reports on the matter.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel also warned that the "tight referendum result shows how deeply divided Turkish society is and that means a big responsibility for the Turkish leadership and for President Erdogan personally".

On Monday opposition parties in Turkey called for the referendum result to be annulled.

Bilginsoy contributed from Istanbul.

Comments