International observers and U. S. State Dept. say there were serious problems with referendum expanding president’s powers<\/b>
WASHINGTON — Ignoring concerns raised by international monitoring groups and his own State Department, President Trump called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday to congratulate him on the country\u2019s contested referendum greatly expanding presidential powers.
The move comes despite protests from opposition parties and international monitoring groups about voting irregularities during Sunday\u2019s referendum. It aligns Mr. Trump with a leader who has taken on an increasingly authoritarian bent.
A referendum that will greatly expand Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appears to have narrowly passed Sunday. Opposition parties are calli…
Voters Sunday narrowly approved constitutional amendments that will replace Turkey\u2019s parliamentary system with a presidential one. Under the new system, the president will be able to appoint ministers and senior government officials, issue decrees and declare states of emergency.
Opposition parties have complained of a series of irregularities, including an electoral board decision to accept ballots that did not bear official stamps, as required by Turkish law. International monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said the move undermined safeguards against fraud.
Earlier Monday, U. S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner echoed the concerns raised by the OSCE, pointing to \u201cobserved irregularities\u201d on voting day and \u201can uneven playing field\u201d during the campaign.
Alev Korun, a member of the OSCE mission that observed the referendum, told a radio program in her native Austria on Tuesday that, \u201cthere is a suspicion that up to 2.5 million votes could have been manipulated.\u201d
\u201cThese complaints are to be taken very seriously and they are, in any case, of such an extent that they would turn around the outcome of the vote,\u201d said Korun, who is a member of Austria\u2019s parliament.
People chant slogans and march in the street protesting the result of the constitutional referendum on April 17, 2017 in Istanbul, Turkey.
On Tuesday, the People\u2019s Republican Party (CHP), Turkey\u2019s main secularist opposition party, said it would officially file for the annulment of the referendum results with the country\u2019s High Electoral Board (YSK). Deputy party chairman Bulent Tezcan said he would present the appeal to the YSK later Tuesday afternoon.
Late Monday, Turkey\u2019s trade association of practicing lawyers also voiced non-confidence in the referendum results, again citing the YSK\u2019s late decision to allow unofficial ballots.
\u201cWith this illegal decision, ballot box councils (officials at polling stations) were misled into believing that the use of unstamped ballots was appropriate,\u201d the Union of Turkish Bar Associations said in a statement, according to the Reuters news agency.
\u201cThe YSK announcement, which is clearly against the law, has led to irregularities, and the prevention of records that could uncover irregularities from being kept,\u201d the bar said, expressing hopes that the YSK would appropriately evaluate the complaints.
Erdogan, meanwhile, called the referendum \u201cthe most democratic election … ever seen in any Western country\u201d and admonished the OSCE monitors to \u201cknow your place.\u201d
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim dismissed on Tuesday the claims of irregularities, saying: \u201cThe people\u2019s will has been reflected at the ballot box, and the debate is over. Everyone should respect the outcome, especially the main opposition.\u201d
Critics argue the reforms in Turkey will hand extensive power to a man with an increasingly autocratic bent and leave few checks and balances in place.
Underscoring the complicated relationship between the U. S. and Turkey, the White House readout of Trump\u2019s call also noted the pressing issues on which the U. S. has tried to work with Turkey, namely fighting the Islamic State group and quelling Syria\u2019s civil war.
Earlier Monday, the White House had sidestepped questions on the referendum, with spokesman Sean Spicer saying the U. S. wanted to let an international commission review the results.
\u201cThey have a right to have elections and their people participated in that,\u201d Spicer said. \u201cBefore we start getting into their government system, let this commission get through its work.\u201d
Erdogan had a bumpy relationship with Trump\u2019s predecessor. President Barack Obama initially viewed Erdogan as a possible model for a new generation of Muslim leaders and traveled to Turkey early in his first year in office. The two men spoke frequently during the start of Obama\u2019s tenure.
But as Erdogan took a turn toward authoritarianism, his relationship with Obama worsened.
Last year, Obama said there were trends in Turkey that he was \u201ctroubled with,\u201d including a fierce crackdown on the press.
\u201cThere is no doubt that President Erdogan has been repeatedly elected through a democratic process, but I think the approach that they\u2019ve been taking towards the press is one that could lead Turkey down a path that would be very troubling,\u201d Obama said in an April 2016 news conference.
The smallest independent state in the world, Vatican City draws more than six million visitors each year to one of the holiest sites in the world: St. Peter’s Basilica
In South Sudan, 5M people don’t know where their next meal is coming from and, of them, 100,000 are starving and face death. If not for humanitarian efforts, millions could die<\/p>\n

\n

Similarity rank: 5.5<\/div>\n

Sentiment rank: 0.3<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n