UKH

"Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has narrowly won a referendum to expand presidential powers, which could keep him in office until 2029.
With 99.45% of ballots counted, the "Yes" campaign had won 51.37% and "No" 48.63%, and the electoral board called victory for "Yes".
Erdogan supporters say replacing the parliamentary system with an executive presidency will modernise the country.
Turkey's two main opposition parties said they would challenge the results.
The Republican People's Party (CHP) demanded a recount of 60% of votes. They criticised a decision to accept unstamped ballot papers as valid unless proven otherwise.
As jubilant Erdogan supporters rallied in the big cities, pots and pans were banged in Istanbul by opponents of the referendum, in a traditional form of protest."

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-39617700

Not good news, not good news at all.

In reply to Big Ger:

Oh bugger! Yet another one I didn't see coming.
... they say these things come in threes....

In reply to Big Ger:

This woman was on the news all over the place:

"Yes, yes, yes. Our leader is the gift of God to us. We will always support him. He's governing so well," Mualla Sengul said.

Another country moves further to the Right, at least if he goes for the death penalty the EU will tell him to get lost, exactly how much of a concern that is, is a moot point.

Makes Merkel look weak in dealing with him too.

In reply to Stichtplate:

So if Brexit, Trump & Erdogan are the three, we won't get Le Pen as Mme la Presidente?

In reply to Big Ger:

I loved the title you gave this thread! Sums it up.

In reply to Doug:


Fingers crossed.

In reply to Big Ger:

I've heard it said in cases like this that it is the will of the people and therefore the best thing is for everyone to come together and work to make it happen as the majority voted.

And that it's good to see people power take control and triumph in constitutional matters. Democracy in action.

In reply to Big Ger:

I rest my case

In reply to wercat:


People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis. You can't trust people.

In reply to wercat:

Referendums are not "the will of the people" they are the will of an absolute majority of the people.

In reply to Big Ger:

Mirror mirror on the wall who's the enemy who could make me fall.

In reply to RomTheBear:


I think he may have been being ironic

In reply to Trevers:


I know, and I wasn't.

In reply to Big Ger:

Ha ha yes. 51.4% leaves a nation divided and 51.9% is the will of the people.

Wally

In reply to RomTheBear:


Not even that. They are the will of the majority of people that voted (were eligible and turned out) at the time of voting. They might actually be the minority.

In reply to GrahamD:


Although in this narrow context ("will of the people") I think it's safe to say those that didn't vote, didn't have much will. So it's likely a majority representation of the "strength of will" weighted mean of the population...

In reply to wintertree:


Go say that to the 3.5m EU citizens living in the UK who couldn't vote in the EU referendum.

In reply to wercat:

"Democracy in action."

Demography in action?

"Since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, there have been two Turkeys: the Turks of Rumelia, or European Turkey, and the Turks of Anatolia, or Asia Minor. Kemal Atatürk was from Rumelia and so were most of his supporters, and they imposed the modern Turkish Republic on a somewhat relunctant Anatolia, where Atatürk's distinction between the state and Islam was never accepted. In its 80-year history, the population has increased from 14 million in 1923 to 70 million today, but the vast bulk of that population growth has come from Anatolia, whose population has migrated from the rural hinterland to overwhelm the once solidly Kemalist cities. Atatürk's modern secular Turkey has simply been outbred by fiercely Islamic Turkey. That's a lesson in demography from an all-Muslim sample: no pasty white blokes were involved."

https://www.steynonline.com/7758/who-lost-turkey-revisited

In reply to RomTheBear:
...or those British citizens in the Channel Islands (and maybe IoM) who didn't get a vote either.