Referendum in Turkey special posting begins. Please check back this post for the updates…

I am off to play cards and watch the Turkey-USA final. This game is over. I am happy for my country….

19:30 BBC already declared:

Turks ‘approve’ new constitution

Turkish voters give strong backing to constitutional changes in a referendum, early results published by the Turkish media suggest.

19:00– Yes Front are warming up for Victory declaration. But I would still like to wait… Western cities are bigger and more complicated…

18:40– first results according to TV8: Yes- 61,3 No- 38,7.

boycott rate in Kurdish town Hakkari: 98% – Diyarbakır: boycott is %71 percent, yes %94

18:35– BDP’s Boycott is effective in Kurdish cities: Diyarbakır results: %60 boycott: rest is %95 yes

18:10– Turkish social media scene is full of jokes about Kılıçdaroğlu who forgot to register to vote… first unofficial results (thru twitter- results: counted votes %22.5, yes vote % 73.3, no vote %26.7. most of the counted votes from Kurdish areas)… official results maybe announced by 18:30…

17:50– 4 million votes counted. Mostly in Eastern towns. I hear big difference between Yes and No but difference will be lesser as more votes counted…

my dear AFP. Turks were always divided. No problem, are used to that…
AFP: Turks vote in divisive referendum

17:10– Erkan, a media monster post here. All TV channels are starting referendum programs by 18:00. But vote results cannot be announced before 21. but Higher Election Council can allow earlier announcements. We are ready:) In the mean time no new news on Kılıçdaroğlu’s vote. He might have fallen into deep depression:)

16:10It looks like Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu cannot vote. He forgot to register as a voter ehehehehheeheh. I still try to verify that… No major incidents in Diyarbakır. (From TRT Haber correspondent). In the mean time, I will be in TRT Haber in a few minutes. This is nothing related to Referendum. I talk about the future of Journalism. It is a taped interview.Here you can watch it here.

Turkeys Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and ...

Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan (L) and his wife Emine Erdogan enter a polling station to cast their votes in Istanbul September 12, 2010. Turks voted on Sunday on whether to amend the constitution in a referendum seen as a tussle between a government led by conservative Muslims and secular opponents for influence over the EU candidate country’s future.? Read more »REUTERS/Murad Sezer

15:35– Such intense and happy days for Turkey. A Turkish film, Çoğunluk (Majority), won the Lion of the Future Award [at the Venice Film Festival… More news about this here… Hürriyet provides some Referendum photos:
Yurttan referandum manzaraları - 12 Eylül 2010

Yurttan referandum manzaraları - 12 Eylül 2010
more phoros here.

Yurttan referandum manzaraları - 12 Eylül 2010

BBC News – Turkey votes on reforms to constitution

Yurttan referandum manzaraları - 12 Eylül 2010

Pro-PKK protesters attack Turkish voters

from Hurriyet Dailynews
A school used as a voting site in Turkey’s Mersin province came under attack by a group of masked protesters on Sunday as the country went to the polls to vote on a set of constitutional amendments.

14:30- I don’t get any chaotic news from Kurdish lands. Some tweeted about the PKK members: They observe and threatend those who do not obey PKK’s boycott decision. But many PKK sympathisers have been detained in the last few days, their impact in the urban areas may be minimal…

In Facebook some of my students who would vote for No now declare that they cannot vote because they do not have the registration cards. These cards have been released months before and if a citizen could not get it, s/he could easily get one or could just get the necessary information from the e-government sites. Now they decry against a possible government conspiracy. This signifies the average level of political literacy in the No front…

14:00– I and Nurdan were the last to vote in the family. Our voting room was not busy, we did it quickly. It is raining a lot. Nurdan wanted to walk in the rain so we are now soaked. Beware of the rain! Check out the latest roundup on referendum…

http://m.friendfeed-media.com/c282a3aab854cb335df70b89366898e4bcd7ff86

Turkey referendum shaping up as dress rehearsal for next year
Los Angeles Times
Police officers surround a bus carrying Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip as he arrives to address a rally in Istanbul. (Ibrahim Usta, Associated Press

İHSAN YILMAZ – Why yes?

Let me start with my worst reason. If the ad hominem logic of the opposition to the constitutional amendment package is correct, then in a similar way I would be inclined to vote yes even if I did not have any other reason to do so.

ANDREW FINKEL – The referendum and Sunday lunch

Turkey goes to the polls today in a rare referendum. At stake is a constitutional reform package that the government proposes and the opposition opposes. Pretty much all that can be said about it has been said, and there will be time soon enough to pick over the results.

Turkey Braces for Key Vote Over its Future – TIME

Turkey referendum shaping up as dress rehearsal for next year
Los Angeles Times
“It has evolved into a confrontation between the two cultural camps in Turkey,” said Ilter Turan, a political scientist at Istanbul Bilgi University.

Poll shows backing for Turkish reforms

from FT.com – World, Europe
A clear majority of Turks will give their backing in a referendum on Sunday to constitutional reforms proposed by the government, a polling institute said in an eve-of-vote boost for prime minister Reçep Tayyip Erdogan

Turkey’s constitutional referendum – Briefings – Al Jazeera English

Should Turkey’s Erdogan Worry the West? – Newsweek

Turkey’s 1980 coup more significant than reform poll, expert says

from Hurriyet Dailynews
With both sides in the constitutional reform debate battling for votes, one leading political scientist believes little is likely to change.

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