Trump calls to congratulate Erdoğan
after vote grants sweeping powers
US president spoke with the Turkish
leader Monday following a referendum that has escalated concern over Erdoğan’s
increasingly authoritarian grip
Lauren Gambino in Washington
@LGamGam
Tuesday 18 April 2017 02.23 BST Last modified on Tuesday 18
April 2017 03.32 BST
Donald Trump called to congratulate Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
hours after the Turkish president claimed a narrow victory in a contested
referendum that will grant him sweeping new powers, according to the White
House.
International observers monitoring the Turkish referendum
concluded in a preliminary report on Monday that the campaign and vote took
place in a political environment where the “fundamental freedoms essential to a
genuinely democratic process were curtailed”.
The US president spoke on Monday with Erdoğan, whose triumph
in the constitutional referendum escalated concern over his increasingly
authoritarian grip on power.
Trump’s congratulatory message strikes a starkly different
tone than the statement issued by the US state department on Monday, which
urged Erdoğan to respect his citizens’ fundamental rights and noted the
report’s findings of “irregularities on voting day and an uneven playing field
during the difficult campaign period”.
According to a readout of the call provided by the White
House, the two leaders discussed the recent developments in Syria, the US
response to the chemical attack in Syria and “agreed on the importance of
holding Syrian president Bashar al-Assad accountable”. The readout matches
reports of a statement from Erdoğan’s office, which was reported by the
state-run Anadolu Agency.
On Sunday, Turkey narrowly approved a package of
constitutional amendments that will dramatically reshape the country’s system
of government. The proposal replaces the country’s parliamentary system with a
presidential one and abolishes the role of the prime minister.
The “yes” camp prevailed with a slim majority, just 51.4%
compared with the opposition’s 48.6%, according to Turkey’s electoral
commission. The main opposition party immediately contested the result, citing
a series of irregularities, and critics raised concerns about the fairness of
the vote in the fraught political environment. The vote will take days to
confirm.
Asked during the White House daily briefing to respond to
the result and Erdoğan’s accumulation of power, press secretary Sean Spicer
echoed the state department statement and said he would withhold reaction until
a final report is published.
“Before we start getting into their governing system, let
this commission get through its work,” Spicer said.
Erdoğan’s move to consolidate power, which could potentially
keep him in office until 2029, comes just eight months after he survived a
failed coup attempt last summer. Erdoğan responded by declaring a state of
emergency and cracking down. With the aim to “cleanse all state institutions”,
the president suspended or dismissed roughly 120,000 people, including state
officials, teachers, bureaucrats, and detained another 47,000 on coup-related
charges.
Trump’s congratulatory call stands in contrast to the
cautious response from several European leaders. Some officials appeared wary
of further antagonizing Turkey, urging restraint and a commitment to Democratic
values. Others were more forthright and declared Sunday’s vote the end to
Turkey’s decade-long attempt to join Europe’s 28-member bloc.
“With what happened yesterday, (Turkey’s) membership
prospects are buried, in practical terms” the Austrian chancellor, Christian
Kern, said in a statement. “We are entering a new era”.
Trump also spoke to Erdoğan in early February. On the call,
Trump reaffirmed Turkey as a strong Nato ally and a partner in the fight
against the Islamic State.
The leaders again discussed the campaign against the the
terrorists group on the call on Monday and agreed on “the need to cooperate
against all groups that use terrorism to achieve their ends”, the White House
said.
The two nations disagree on the American plan to fight Isis
in Syria. Erdoğan has deep reservations about the American plan to arm Kurdish
forces, which Turkey considers terrorists. The issue has been a sticking point
in US-Turkey relations, and was front and center during a visit to Ankara last
month by the US secretary of state Rex Tillerson.
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