Final rallies as Turkey approaches zero hour on referendum

Campaigners in Turkey are pushing for votes on the final day of campaigning ahead of a referendum on whether to expand presidential powers, with supporters of both “yes” and “no” campaigns addressing rallies in the country’s two main cities of Istanbul and Ankara.

The “Yes” camp say that the constitutional changes will herald a period of stability and prosperity, while its critics warn the reforms could lead to a system of autocratic one-man rule.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who delivered a speech to a crowd in Istanbul’s Tuzla neighbourhood today, has long championed the changing of Turkey’s system of government from parliamentary to presidential. Last year, the Turkish parliament voted through a bill to run tomorrow’s referendum, with a greatly weakened Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) joining forces with the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and beating back an attempt by the ultra-secular Republican People’s Party (CHP) and pro-Kurdish separatist People’s Democratic Party (HDP) to block the referendum from going forward.

Everything you need to know about Turkey’s constitutional referendum

Erdogan is calling on the electorate to vote on Sunday to approve a wide-ranging raft of constitutional changes that would, among other things, abolish the office of the prime minister, handing all executive power to the president who will also be able to be the head of a party rather than the non-partisan figurehead he’s supposed to be now.

“This constitutional change will bring stability and trust that is needed for our county’s development, growth and stability,” Erdogan told supporters at the rally.

Drawing on the popular “One Nation, One Flag, One Homeland” motto, Erdogan said:

Is it a ‘Yes’ for one nation? Is it a ‘Yes’ for one flag? Is it a ‘Yes’ for one homeland? Is it a ‘Yes’ for one state? Yes, yes, yes!

Erdogan said the proposed reforms could help counter a series of threats, including a failed military coup last year and a string of deadly bombings, some attributed to Daesh.

“Sunday will be a turning point in the fight against terrorism,” he said. Erdogan and the AKP have framed the referendum as being within the wider struggle against terrorism, and have accused some pro-“No” supporters of harbouring designs of destabilising Turkey, accusing them of siding with “terrorists” from the Fethullah Gulen organisation, blamed for the July 2016 attempted coup that led to the deaths of more than 240 civilians, and the wounding of around 2,200 others.

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Critics, however, argue that Erdogan, who has been at the helm of Turkish government as prime minister or president since 2003, will simply cement his hold on power in a system that will have few checks and balances.

“Turkey is at a junction. We will make our decision tomorrow. Do we want a democratic parliamentary system or do we want a one-man regime?” Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the main opposition CHP said, asked supporters during a speech in the capital Ankara, Reuters reported.

“We are putting 80 million on a bus with no brakes,” he added.

Pollsters have suggested a tight race, and fierce campaigning will continue until a ban comes into effect at 18:00 local time (15:00 GMT) tonight, with voting getting under way in the country’s east at 07:00 local time (04:00 GMT) on Sunday and an hour later elsewhere.