Fourth Night of Protests Against Turkey's Referendum Results in Istanbul

Following the rejection of the proposal to annul the results of Turkey's recent referendum, protests continued in Istanbul on Wednesday evening, April 30, for the fourth consecutive night. Hundreds of protesters gathered in Turkey's largest city, demanding the annulment of the recent referendum results, which granted more powers to the current President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan by a margin of less than two percent. The German news agency reported that protesters labeled the Turkish president as a 'murderer' and 'thief,' accusing the country's Supreme Election Council of 'bias' towards the current government. Turkish police arrested 38 protesters in various locations across Istanbul on Wednesday morning. However, opponents claim they will expand their protests to other cities in Turkey. Meanwhile, the Supreme Election Council of Turkey rejected the request to annul the recent referendum results on Wednesday. Of the 11 members of this body, only one voted for annulment, while the other 10 rejected the objection. The Republican People's Party, Turkey's largest party that identifies itself as a follower of the programs of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of Turkey, is the main opponent of the referendum results. This party also enjoys support from the Peoples' Democratic Party, another major opposition party. However, the objections of these two parties in the Supreme Election Council of Turkey did not yield results. These parties claimed that many ballots were counted without stamps in the recent referendum. An Austrian member of the European Council monitoring the Turkish referendum previously stated that approximately 2.5 million votes may have been manipulated in this referendum. Opposition parties say they will seek assistance from all legal means in Turkey and abroad, including the European Court of Human Rights, to annul the referendum results. However, according to Reuters, Bekir Bozdağ, Turkey's Minister of Justice, stated that the European Court of Human Rights does not have jurisdiction to address complaints regarding the recent Turkish referendum. The outcome of this referendum includes 18 amendments to Turkey's constitution, which transforms the parliamentary system into a presidential system and abolishes the position of prime minister. These changes will take effect from 2019, allowing Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to run for two additional presidential terms after his current presidency, effectively keeping him in power until 2029.