ANKARA: Prime Minister Binali Yildirim urged Turks to say “yes” to boosting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s powers on Saturday, saying it would strengthen Turkey at the ruling party’s first pro-referendum rally.
The event in Ankara sports arena was held ahead of the April 16 referendum when the Turkish public will vote on whether to approve constitutional changes creating an executive presidency.
Thousands of ruling AK Party members — who had come from across the country’s 81 provinces — waved Turkish flags and rallying songs resounded round a sports arena in the capital as Yildirim handed out red carnations after briefly addressing thousands gathered outside.
“For a strong Turkey, lasting stability, our choice is ‘yes.’ This is our wish, it will come,” Yildirim said.
Ahead of his arrival, the crowd had been rallied by recordings of campaign songs with lyrics saying a “yes” vote would be a tribute to the “July martyrs” killed during last year’s failed coup, and saying the changes would ensure a fair judiciary and respect opposing sides.
Last July’s coup featured heavily in a video screened ahead of his speech, with images of the victims also appearing on banners held by the audience.
The premier insisted no one would be forced to back the changes, which the government says are necessary for political harmony but which critics fear will create one-man rule.
“There is no creating fear,” he told the excited crowds.
“We want a willing yes.”
Turkish media said some 6,500 police officers were deployed in and around the arena where heavy security was in evidence.
In the arena, there were thousands of people, including many young women, most of whom were waving Turkish flags — noticeably there were no AKP flags — or carrying banners, including one praising “grand master” Erdogan.
The heavy focus on encouraging young people to vote “yes” could be seen everywhere in the arena, with one large banner saying: “Turkey’s issues are young people’s issues.”
Ahead of the referendum, “we will go square-to-square, street-by-street, door-by-door, and we know what we will say for change, don’t we?” Yildirim said.
“Yes” roared the crowd.
Under the new constitution, the president will have strengthened executive powers to directly appoint top public officials including ministers.
The post of prime minister would be replaced with one or more vice presidents.
The bid to replace the EU candidate country’s parliamentary democracy with a powerful executive presidency is seen by Erdogan supporters as a guarantee of stability, preventing a return to the fragile coalitions of previous decades. But opponents fear a surge in authoritarianism.
Tens of thousands of people have already been detained and more than 100,000 public sector workers suspended or dismissed since a failed coup last July.
The NATO-member country of 80 million will vote on the reform in a plebiscite on April 16, with a simple majority needed to approve legislation passed by Parliament in January and rubber-stamped by Erdogan last month.