10 March 2017•Update: 10 March 2017
ANKARA
The leader of the main opposition party on Friday called for a large turnout in the April 16 referendum on constitutional change.
Kemal Kilicdaroglu, head of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), told a televised meeting of business figures in Ankara that “not going to the ballot may have negative consequences.”
The CHP is campaigning for a No vote in the referendum, which would hand wide-ranging powers to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but Kilicdaroglu said the party would embrace both Yes and No voters after the poll.
“We are tired of fighting, the nation does not want fighting,” he said.
Kilicdaroglu added: “Either we will leave a happy and peaceful country following the referendum or we will leave an undemocratic public, which has been divided into two or three pieces.”
The referendum will see voters cast their ballots for or against an 18-article bill passed by parliament in January.
The reforms would abolish the post of prime minister and allow the president to retain ties to a political party.
If the electorate accepts the proposals, simultaneous parliamentary and presidential elections for five-year terms would be held in November 2019.
'Adhan cannot be banned,' Kilicdaroglu says of Israeli bill
Kilicdaroglu also reacted to the Israeli parliament’s first vote on a bill to ban the use of loudspeakers for the Muslim call to prayer (adhan) by underlining that the adhan "cannot be banned".
"Adhan is very important for the Muslim world, and adhan is recited 24 hours a day all over the world," he said, highlighting its central role since the time of Prophet Muhammed.
He stressed: "Israel's parliament has taken a decision on banning the adhan at certain times. We are waiting for a serious reaction on the ban from the [Turkish] government. Adhan can not be banned."
The draft legislation in the Knesset aims to stop mosques from using loudspeakers to amplify the Muslim call to prayer in Israel and Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.
The bill imposes fines on violators ranging between the equivalent of $1,300 and $2,600.
Second and third readings of the draft law must still be approved by the Knesset before it becomes law.
