The PES is deeply disappointed by the outcome of the referendum in Turkey, announced by the Turkish government. After the vote on Sunday it will be much easier for President Erdogan to seize all powers in the Republic of Turkey, and unfortunately - it will be much more difficult to preserve democracy, freedom of speech, the right to express differing opinions and political diversity.
Both our associate member parties in Turkey, CHP (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, Republican People's Party) and HDP (Halklarin Demokratik Partisi, Peoples' Democratic Party) said that there are legal grounds for disputing the results. The Party of European Socialists is standing firmly next to CHP and HDP and will follow closely all appeals that might be filed questioning the results.

PES President Sergei Stanishev said: “We will be listening carefully to the reports from OSCE observers and other international monitoring missions. With this referendum Erdogan has achieved a move towards a presidential republic tailored for himself and we must monitor this closely in the coming months and years. Our associate member parties in Turkey, CHP (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, Republican People's Party) and HDP (Halklarin Demokratik Partisi, Peoples' Democratic Party) were campaigning for a NO vote in this referendum. This would have been the right choice – to develop further the parliamentary democracy embedded in the core of the modern Turkish republic.”

“Now it’s time for the European institutions to enforce their monitoring capabilities in Turkey. And it is time for human rights organizations to deploy more missions in the country in order to make sure that Erdogan will not abuse the trust of his own people. This is important with regard to protecting human rights, enforcing the rule of law and especially guaranteeing the right to a fair trial – something that is desperately needed by thousands of detained Turkish citizens.” Stanishev added.

For more information, please contact Toby Wardman toby.wardman@pes.eu, +32 491 86 97 48