CHP vows to continue struggle against system changes

ANKARA

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The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has vowed to continue its struggle against the presidential system following last week’s disputed referendum while also expressing its discomfort with a Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) decision to again place Turkey under a monitoring process.

“Our struggle against this illegitimate referendum and any authoritarian regulation and intrusion to build upon it will continue in all fields,” the CHP Party Assembly said in a written statement following a lengthy meeting on April 25.

Describing the constitutional amendments as “a project to destroy the democratic republic,” the statement said the party “is determined to meet with broader groups and raise the struggle inside and outside of parliament.”

The party fiercely objects to the referendum results, stating that the initial decision of the YSK to accept ballots without an official seal as valid in the referendum was a breach of the law that tipped the balance in favor of the “yes” side.

After the CHP’s legal appeal to the Supreme Election Board (YSK) and the Council of State was rejected, the party convened its party group in order to set a road map for its future course of action.

“The referendum was held in the conditions of state of emergency rule in circumstances where the state resources and public power were utilized wastefully and the media was dominated. Despite all this oppression, our citizens went to the ballot box and manifested a strong will for ‘no,’” the statement read.

“Those who could not affect the will of the public have decided to attain their targets with the ‘unsealed referendum’ which they created via the YSK. The YSK, which, in contravention of the law, accepted ballots without seals during the counting of votes, has smeared the will of 49 million voters and destroyed the legitimacy of the referendum,” the statement added.

The CHP Party Assembly also discussed PACE’s decision on April 25 to reinstate a monitoring mechanism against Turkey after 13 years, saying: “Although, we reject the government’s policies and actions on suspending Turkey’s EU targets, we do not approve of this decision by PACE either. Turkey is not only made up of the Justice and Development Party.”