WASHINGTON (AFP)—President Barack Obama on Sunday hailed the “vibrancy of Turkish democracy” after almost 80 percent of voters turned out for a constitutional referendum, with some 58 percent of them backing measures to reshape the judiciary and curb the military’s powers.
The White House said Obama had called Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and congratulated him on Turkey’s hosting of the World Basketball Championship, the final of which will be competed between the two countries.
“The president [Obama] said he is rooting for the American team but that whoever wins both teams have played great basketball,” a statement said.
“The president also acknowledged the vibrancy of Turkey’s democracy as reflected in the turnout for the referendum that took place across Turkey today.”
The outcome came as a huge boost for Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) ahead of general elections next year, in which the party, the moderate offshoot of a banned Islamist movement, will seek a third straight term in power.
The secularist opposition had campaigned against the amendments, charging that they masked an AKP quest to take control of the judiciary and assert an authoritarian grip on power.
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Obama would wouldn’t he? He is the friends of the oppressors of democracy.Friends of genocidal Turks. He bends backwards to please the barbarians. He is an embarrasment through and through. A false man with no moral authority, no spiritual vision,and no backbone. He is the one who finds it difficult to condemn the act of genocide and therefore he is responsible for its continuation, little surprise therefore that he has found a new bedfellow in Erdogan. Obama should be consigned to history dustbin as the most gutless and dysfunctional president that there ever was and the way he is going he will!
I agree Satenik…and then some ,but most US Armenians will fall for his lies again…just wait and see!
I am glad for the first time in 100 years, Turks have voted against nationalism. I am pleased with the vote.
Turkey is light years away from democracy. Obama stop this farce!!!!!!!!
If i understand right, DEFOL in Turkish means GET LOST. Read the signs held by people in the picture above…