Several hundred people marched through Istanbul’s affluent suburbs along the Bosphorus on Saturday to campaign against Turkey’s proposed constitutional amendments.
Carrying flags and chanting, they marched from Ortakoy to Bebek, disrupting traffic on the last day of campaigning ahead of Sunday’s referendum.
“You know why we say ‘no’? We are saying no for Ataturk. For the republic and our future.”
“Let’s not lose our ground in this Saturday. Let’s not fly off to America next Saturday,” Eileen Akan said.
A large lorry draped with flags and music blaring from loudspeakers led the group of some 400 campaigners.
It was a colourful scene as people hung out of car windows while others poked their heads through car sunroofs, shouting support as the drivers honked their horns.
They are voting “no” because they believe the 18 proposed constitutional amendments will threaten democracy.
“I am Kemalist. I am Republican. I am concerned about the generation which will come after me. I know Iran, I know Gulf countries, I know Saudi Arabia. I am voting ‘no’ because I don’t want my country to become like them. I am 71-years-old. I have no expectations. Let my country be beautiful,” Isa Berkman said.
On Sunday, about 55 million Turks will vote on the constitutional changes Turkey’s President Erdogan says the country needs.
The proposed changes will see an executive presidency, a limit placed on the power of military courts, the abolishment of the office of the prime minister, as well as the ability to prosecute the president for crimes. It also increases the number of lawmakers, and the minimum age of parliamentarians will drop from 25 to 18.
Critics say the revisions will result in one-man rule, while proponents say that the changes will remove deadlocks and instability caused by coalition governments.
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