ANKARA (Sputnik) — On April 16, Ankara held a referendum on the transition from a parliamentary to presidential system of governance, with over 51 percent of voters supporting the proposed amendments to the constitution.
"They [Western media] tried to intervene in the process. I'm talking about Western media, because they openly called to vote against [the proposed amendments to the constitution]. It was the first time I saw that the media of foreign countries were delivering open calls concerning domestic affairs of another country," Akarca told reporters.
Akarca specified that some newspapers’ headlines included the words "Death to Erdogan" while others blatantly called for voting "no" in the referendum.
"This [media headlines and slogans] is a certain kind of terror. For Turkey, which is an independent, democratic country, it is difficult to accept such an attitude," Akarca added.
The referendum was followed by a series of protests throughout the country. The opposition had demanded that the referendum results be canceled, but the Supreme Electoral Council (YSK) rejected the appeal and approved the final results of the vote.
