Turkey's Pro-Kurdish HDP says 'no' to Erdogan referendum

Record ID: 348030

  • Title: Turkey's Pro-Kurdish HDP says 'no' to Erdogan referendum
  • Date: 2nd March 2017
  • Summary: ISTANBUL, TURKEY (MARCH 2, 2017) (REUTERS) PEOPLE CHANTING DURING HDP GATHERING PEOPLE CHANTING, HOLDING BANNERS (Turkish): "NO" HDP SPOKESMAN OSMAN BAYDEMIR COMING TO PODIUM HDP SUPPORTERS CHANTING (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) HDP SPOKESMAN, OSMAN BAYDEMIR, SAYING: "Of course we'll say no. Under the state of emergency, a regime, a republic of fear, how can one create a constitut
  • Embargoed: 16th March 2017 14:15
  • Keywords: Turkey Kurds Referendum Pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP)
  • Location: DIYARBAKIR AND ISTANBUL, TURKEY
  • City: DIYARBAKIR AND ISTANBUL, TURKEY
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
  • Reuters ID: LVA003669PFLZ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Turkey's pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) on Thursday (March 2) launched a campaign to oppose April 16 referendum where Turks will vote on a constitutional reform sharply boosting Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's powers.
    At the campaign launch event in Istanbul, HDP spokesman Osman Baydemir called on supporters to vote 'No' to new constitutional changes: "Of course we'll say no. Under the state of emergency, a regime, a republic of fear, how can one create a constitution that would embrace all of Turkey? Of course not."
    Emergency rule was imposed in Turkey after the failed putsch on July 15, enabling the government to bypass parliament in enacting new laws and to limit or suspend rights and freedoms when deemed necessary.
    Turkey's parliament has stripped one of the HDP's two leaders of her status as a member of parliament and jailed the other weeks ahead of the referendum on extending the president's powers.
    Erdogan and the government said the HDP was an affiliate of the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged an armed insurgency in Turkey's largely Kurdish southeast for more than three decades.
    The HDP denies direct links to the PKK.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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