Turkish PM sends letters to youth, asks for ‘yes’ vote in referendum

Gizem Karakış – ANKARA

AA photo

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım has urged the country’s youth to vote “yes” in the upcoming referendum in handwritten letters to millions of young voters. 

Yıldırım in the letters has addressed 15 million young voters in order to tell them about the aspects of the public vote, persuading them to vote “yes.”

“On April 16 [the referendum date] you’ll have a say and you’ll make the decision,” Yıldırım said in his letter, adding that if the “yes” vote prevailed, the age of candidacy would be decreased to 18.

“I invite you to say ‘yes’ for a parliament that’s going to be the sole body to introduce laws,” he added. 

He gave details about the content of the letter in a Central Executive Board (MYK) meeting of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). Calling on young people between the ages of 18 and 30 to vote “yes,” Yıldırım said he starts his letter by congratulating the youth for the courageous efforts they showed during the July 2016 failed coup attempt, which is widely believed to have been masterminded by the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ).

“I salute you, your family, and all your loved ones. For the future of Turkey, where the youth will live, to become stronger, fairer and more independent, the constitutional amendment accepted by parliament, the sole representative of the national will, will be asked to you on April 16. As the AKP, we heard the youth say ‘If we are electing people, then we should be elected too,’ so we prepared a new system where you will be represented more,” he said. 

Turkey will hold a referendum on April 16 to decide whether to change the government system into an executive presidency seeking to give vastly enhanced powers to the president or to protect the current parliamentary system.

The “yes” vote is endorsed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the AKP and the opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).