West is openly campaigning for ‘No’ in charter referendum: Erdoğan

ANKARA

AA photo

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has slammed the entire Western bloc and particularly some prominent European countries for openly pursuing the “no” campaign ahead of the April 16 referendum by using all means, including terror organizations. 

“Some of us who are inattentive may not understand the importance of this historical referendum. But some people are very much aware of it. Some prominent countries of the West are trying to give us a hard time by supporting the terror organization. The West is openly carrying the ‘no’ campaign on their state television channels and [newspaper] headlines,” Erdoğan said at a rally in the northern Anatolian province of Çorum on April 10.

Erdoğan accused the countries of attacking on Turkey with police violence and state terrorism, indirectly referring to the Netherlands and Germany, which restricted gatherings between Turkish ministers and the Turkish community ahead of the polls. 

“The best answer will be given to them by our brothers through the polls. The overseas voting is over, and turnout has doubled compared to the last polls,” he said. 

Turkey’s relationship with prominent European countries like Germany and the Netherlands has been severely strained in the last few weeks as Erdoğan and the ruling party officials accuse the West of taking sides on the upcoming referendum. 

Erdoğan said the West was aiming to halt Turkey’s growth and campaigning for “no” in a bid to continue their efforts to divide it. “We are going to give a very hard lesson to those who are shaking their fingers at us,” he said.
 

AKP to invite Erdoğan 

In the meantime, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said in the event that the changes are approved in the referendum, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) might issue an invitation to Erdoğan to register with the party. “We may invite him to return to his party,” Yıldırım told Fox TV early April 10. 

The constitutional amendments allow the elected president to maintain his or her membership with the political party to which he or she belongs. Erdoğan earlier said he would return to his party in the event a majority of the country says “yes” to the changes.