Turkish referendum

[notaflyingmonkey]

The polls have closed in the referendum, and early indications are that Erdogan will get the yes vote. If so, this will be a real game changer for the country.

Yes, my Turkish friends are very upset at what's been going on. Shocking how quickly it's all gone down the pan. I used to love Turkey and I wouldn't set foot in it these days

It's like a domino effect of absolute crap happening worldwide. What next?

He's won! If you can call suddenly accepting lots of unofficially unstamped 'yes' votes 'winning'. The world has just become so much more dangerous in a few short hours.

My heart goes out to all of those hundreds of thousands of poor people who have been accused of the coup, and their families. Their death warrant has been more of less signed

It is certainly not a clean or overwhelming 'win' for him, and in many big cities - Istanbul, Anakara, Izmir, the majoriy voted no. The gendarmerie were stationed in many of the polling stations in the Kurdish south east, with some standing over people while they voted. I have seen footage of no voters - including a prominent politician, being attacked. The country will be divided, and I fear that the ugly, violent underbelly will come to the fore. Many academics, lawyers, journalists, etc have already lost their jobs or been imprisoned, with areas of the Kurdish south east having been placed under 24 hour curfew - and that was all before the referendum.

I suspect they won't be joining/accepted into the EU then.

He just wants to be overall ruler doesn't he?

He's a dictator, a fraud, a revolting misogynist who preys upon the ignorant, uneducated and gullible, to profit a few cronies who could not care less about their country or children's future and freedoms.

I'm assuming Mavis you are joking about Turkey joining the EU...that was just another Brexit lie preying upon the ignorant and gullible, to profit a few cronies who could not care less about their country or children's future and freedoms.

Spot the difference...oh, wait...

It was on R4 that they were planning on bringing back the death penalty which would make joining incredibly unlikely.

It's his own personal revolution dressed as democracy. Who the hell thinks it's ok to have someone in absolute power that can sit pretty for the next 12 years (and he rest)? Who can oppose him?

Ataturk will be spinning in his grave.

It's getting really bad -I've heard of civil servants like teachers/academics in particular being really worried about their jobs and pensions if they're found to have the wrong opinions. So people are deleting their social media accounts, watching what they say even in private because there are spies everywhere. My friends (in Izmir, historically quite secular and liberal) have told me about police forcing bars to close early and the sense of an unofficial "moral police" being formed. They're convinced it'll be like Iran within a decade

I have a feeling it will be getting more religious. And with the death penalty, that's a green light to murder anyone who disagrees or steps out of line.

Sadly not surprised that he's won. You don't set up a vote like this if you're not planning to win it, one way or another.

I'm getting flashbacks to Mugabe's constant rearranging of the Zimbabwe constitution. It's yer basic, How to Create a Dictatorship in Six Easy Steps, isn't it?

I know there's at least one Turkish MNer. She's been in my thoughts these last few months.

It's really sad, especially as what has happened post the supposed coup has been awful with people being jailed, their bank accounts frozen, their houses seized and their families split up. I know some are seeking asylum in Europe.

I think the EU and NATO have some big decisions to make about Turkey; the former needs to slam the door on any possible accession now, and the latter needs to work out how it copes with a non democratic country in an Alliance that is supposed to only be made up of democracies.

I think the NL, Germany and Austria were correct in refusing a political platform to Erdogan ministers at rallies, and that Germany in particular needs to keep a close eye on Turkey. I was a bit to read that the Turkish secret service had handed the Germans a list of people they wanted information on, including a German MP!