ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Days prior to an expected tight vote on a Turkish constitutional referendum, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan didn’t appreciate being asked an off-script question about the concerns of Kurds during a widely broadcast live radio interview on Tuesday.
Erdogan was a guest on the radio program “Mehmet’s Planet” on the Turkish network Kral FM at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, when the host started to ask the president to listen to some of the concerns the host had heard from listeners while visiting Kurdish areas over the past few months.
“Do not spoil the topic,” the president told the journalist in a low voice.
Having heard the president’s discontent, the journalist went on to say that he will instead give the president the messages from the Kurdish population so that he could later listen to them.
The program also was broadcasted on the state-owned TRT radio.
Turkey’s constitutional referendum is Sunday when tens of millions of people are expected to go to the polls.
The proposed constitutional changes to be voted on would effectively abolish the position of prime minister and allow the president to maintain leadership of a political party while in office. It would also allow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to possibly stay in power until 2029, among many other judicial and parliamentary changes.
Two Turkish opinion polling organizations, Konsensus and ANAR, reported on Wednesday findings showing 51 percent of Turks would vote 'Yes' in favor of constitutional changes.
Erdogan has won a considerable number of votes in the Kurdish areas in past elections.
“We have no issues with the Kurds,” Erdogan said at a campaign speech in Ankara in late-March.
Erdogan was a guest on the radio program “Mehmet’s Planet” on the Turkish network Kral FM at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, when the host started to ask the president to listen to some of the concerns the host had heard from listeners while visiting Kurdish areas over the past few months.
“Do not spoil the topic,” the president told the journalist in a low voice.
Having heard the president’s discontent, the journalist went on to say that he will instead give the president the messages from the Kurdish population so that he could later listen to them.
The program also was broadcasted on the state-owned TRT radio.
Turkey’s constitutional referendum is Sunday when tens of millions of people are expected to go to the polls.
The proposed constitutional changes to be voted on would effectively abolish the position of prime minister and allow the president to maintain leadership of a political party while in office. It would also allow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to possibly stay in power until 2029, among many other judicial and parliamentary changes.
Two Turkish opinion polling organizations, Konsensus and ANAR, reported on Wednesday findings showing 51 percent of Turks would vote 'Yes' in favor of constitutional changes.
Erdogan has won a considerable number of votes in the Kurdish areas in past elections.
“We have no issues with the Kurds,” Erdogan said at a campaign speech in Ankara in late-March.
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