OSCE delegation meets Turkish election board members

By Ferdi Turkten and Mumin Altas

ANKARA

Days after a historic referendum, European poll observers met Tuesday with Turkey’s top election authority.

Members of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) delegation gave their preliminary report on Sunday’s polls to Turkey’s Supreme Board of Elections (YSK).

“We discussed the contents of the report,” Tana de Zulueta, head of the OSCE observation mission, told reporters.

On Monday, the OSCE claimed that a “lack of equal opportunities, one-sided media coverage and limitations on fundamental freedoms” had created an “unlevel playing field” in the constitutional referendum.

But Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Ministry dismissed the criticisms as “unacceptable” and the report as “biased.”

The OSCE’s final report on the referendum will be released in approximately eight weeks, said Zulueta, but declined to comment on the government’s stance.

“I thank the Supreme Board of Elections for all the assistance it gave during our presence in the country,” she added.

On Sunday, a majority of Turkish voters cast ballots in favor of 18 constitutional amendments set to, among other things, switch Turkey from a parliamentary system of government to a presidential one.