Turkey's Erdogan declares victory in referendum

Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

The official results are not yet in, but Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared victory in Sunday's referendum that would replace the country's current system of parliamentary democracy with an executive presidency.

The state-run Anadolu Agency said 47.5 million votes were cast, and with 99.8 percent of the ballots counted, the "yes" side received 51.4 percent of the vote. The ruling Justice and Development Party put forward the 18-article reform package, which allows the president to hold much broader powers and lets him appoint five of 13 Supreme Court members. "For a strong Islamic state, for a strong Middle East, Turkey had to switch to this executive presidency system," said Aysel Can, a member of the Justice and Development Party's women's branch. "This is a message to the world to shut up; Turkey is getting stronger. America has to know this, too. We are the voice, we are the ears, we are everything for the Middle East."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.