President Erdoğan to accelerate referendum campaign, heading to five cities in three days

Erdinç Çelikkan - ANKARA

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President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is set to accelerate his campaign for the upcoming referendum on shifting Turkey to an executive presidential system, holding public rallies in five Anatolian provinces over three days this weekend including Kahramanmaraş, Malatya, Elazığ, Adıyaman and Gaziantep.

Turkey will go to the ballot box on April 16 to vote on an 18-article constitutional amendment package that drastically changes the governance system by abolishing the office of the prime minister.  

In a press statement last week, Erdoğan said public support for the changes was still “insufficient” and stressed that people “need to be better informed about the package.” 

After returning from an official trip to Gulf countries, Erdoğan will embark on the domestic tour on Feb. 17 in Kahramanmaraş. On Feb. 18 he will be in Elazığ and Malatya and on Feb. 19 he will be in Adıyaman and Gaziantep, according to sources. 

These five provinces were the constituencies where Erdoğan won the highest votes in the 2014 presidential election.