US President congratulates Erdogan on referendum victory


Donald Trump has congratulated Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on his victory in Sunday's referendum that gave him sweeping new powers.

In a phone call, the US president also thanked Mr. Erdogan for supporting America's missile strike on a Syrian government airbase on 7 April.

In the poll, 51.4% of Turkish voters backed the changes.

Mr. Erdogan rejected criticism from international monitors who said he had been favoured by an "unequal campaign".
"Know your place," he told the observers.

The narrow victory was ruled valid by Turkey's electoral body, despite claims of irregularities by the opposition.

In a statement on Monday, the White House said President Trump discussed with his Turkish counterpart America's "action in response to the Syrian regime's use of chemical weapons" on 4 April.

It said the two leaders "agreed on the importance of holding Syrian President Bashar al-Assad accountable".

They also discussed "the counter-ISIS (Islamic State campaign)", the statement added.

Relations between Washington and Ankara have recently been strained by several key issues.

One of Turkey's main grievances with the US is the policy started by the Obama administration of supporting Kurdish fighters in Syria who are fighting IS forces.

Turkey views the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) as a terror group linked to Kurdish separatists waging an insurgency inside Turkey since 1984.

The two sides are also at loggerheads over Fethullah Gulen. 
Turkey accuses the Pennsylvania-based cleric of orchestrating the failed coup and wants him extradited.

Officially Washington insists any decision on returning him to Turkey from the US remains a judicial rather than a political one.

In Europe, leaders have been less than enthusiastic in their comments over the result.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that the "tight referendum result shows how deeply divided Turkish society is and that means a big responsibility for the Turkish leadership and for President Erdogan personally".
The European Commission issued a similar call.

Others expressed concern about the possibility of the return of capital punishment.

The French president's office warned that any referendum on reviving the death penalty would "obviously be a break with values and engagements" that Turkey had accepted in joining the Council of Europe. 

The president of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, tweeted his own concerns.

Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz said the referendum result was a "clear signal against the European Union". The "fiction" of Turkey's bid to join the bloc must be ended, Mr Kurz said.

In a separate development, Turkey has extended the state of emergency for three months. 

The measure, introduced after a failed coup last July, was set to expire in two days.


SOURCE: BBC News