Slovenia calls on Turkey to honour international norms

The Slovenian Foreign Ministry stated on Monday that it is expected that Turkey would honour international standards and accepted commitments when it is implementing constitutional changes.

The ministry made this comment after Sunday's referendum in Turkey, noting that a referendum is a legitimate way to check the will of voters, according to the Slovenian Press Agency (STA).

"Turkey is an important strategic partner of Slovenia as well as of the EU, which is why we regularly stress the importance of preserving dialogue between the EU and Turkey and of respect for democratic standards and expectations that apply to candidates for membership in the EU and to members of organisations like the Council of Europe," the ministry wrote on Monday.

This also goes for Sunday's referendum in which Turkish voters backed with a narrow majority an expansion of presidential powers promoted by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the STA report said.

As regards the complaints related to the execution of the referendum, the ministry said it expects Turkey will conduct an appropriate evaluation of the OSCE observation mission and of the Parliamentary Assembly of the CoE.

International observers said on Sunday that the referendum fell short of CoE standards. The Turkish opposition announced it would demand the results be annulled due to irregularities. Endit