Spotlight: Erdogan declares referendum victory, opposition claims voting rigged

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has declared victory in a constitutional reform referendum that will give him sweeping powers, amid an outcry from the opposition that the voting was rigged.

Internationally, the idea to give too many powers to one man is hard to sell, particularly to the European Union, which Turkey was trying to join.

Turkey's Supreme Electoral Council declared late Sunday that the "yes" camp has won the referendum that includes 18 constitutional amendments and that will allow Erdogan to remain in power till 2029.

With 99 percent of the ballots counted, the constitutional changes were supported by 24.9 million voters against 23.6 million who voted against them, said the electoral council. Final results will be announced in 11 to 12 days, it said.

Erdogan declared that the proposed constitutional changes were accepted in the referendum. "For the first time in the history of the republic, we are changing our ruling system through democratic politics," he said late Sunday.

He also said the referendum has ended Turkey's decades-long history of military intervention in government.

In front of a cheering crowd, Erdogan once again promised to reinstate the death penalty, a move that, in the opinion of experts, will definitely kill his country's long-lasting bid to join the EU.

Turkey abolished the death penalty in 2004 as part of its EU membership bid.

Western nations have expressed concerns about the referendum, saying it would give too many powers to the president, such as directly appointing ministers and high court judges.

Erdogan supporters say the changes are needed to establish stability in the country.

They also argue that a strong, centralized government will make Turkey more able to tackle other challenges such as the troubled economy.

According to initial results, Turkey's globally connected, industrialized, educated areas usually voted "No" while its inward-looking, poorer, poorly educated areas generally voted "Yes," political commentator Deniz Zeyrek told Xinhua.

"Europe should now fear Turkey, which has become more powerful with the chieftain Erdogan at its helm. We will not take order from them, they have to understand this fact clearly," Miktad Ecel, an Erdogan supporter, told Xinhua on Sunday night.

Erdogan's victory fell shortly of the 60 percent majority that he and his followers had expected.

"Never mind the narrow victory, in fact we were expecting something around 60 percent, but it's still a victory and we are rejoicing it for the wealth and peace of our people," said Ecel.

Kati Piri, a Dutch member of the European Parliament and also rapporteur for Turkey, said on his Twitter account that the outcome of the vote reflects "a sad day for democracy" in Turkey and that the constitutional changes, if put in place, will be "a major shift away from European values."

But Piri also stressed that the narrow margin shows that million of Turks share the same European values. The EU should never close doors to them, he tweeted.

After having spent a decade as a pro-European, the Turkish leader turned aggressively against European leaders and institutions, blaming them for ever rejecting his country's bid for the bloc.

"Turkey has been westernizing in the last 200 years or so, and in the last year we are seeing a de-westernization, with a clear derailment on European values," professor Cengiz Altar of Istanbul Policy Center told Xinhua, hinting at a point of no return in the arduous relationship between Ankara and Brussels.

Some other experts, quoted by the Turkish press, were more positive, believing that Erdogan may seek ways to try to rebuild relations with the West after his victory at home. Endi