Kemal Kilicdaroglu, head of the Republican People's Party (CHP), predicts Turkey will vote against increasing the powers of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. (AFP photo)
ANKARA, March 16 (Xinhua) -- The leader of Turkey's main opposition party has predicted the country will vote against increasing the powers of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in an April referendum, arguing that such powers would drive Turkey head-on into "catastrophe."
Kemal Kilicdaroglu, head of the Republican People's Party (CHP), told Xinhua in an exclusive interview in the headquarters in downtown Ankara that he is convinced that the "no" vote will prevail because Turks have largely understood that the proposed changes to the constitution would enhance a single man reign in Turkey.
"One person having this much power would impose risks in the future for Turkey and drag the country in an unforeseeable adventure," he said.
President Erdogan argued that he considered the referendum a historic opportunity to free the country of unstable coalition governments and would bring Turkey in line with political systems in France and the United States.
The new constitution would replace the basic law drown up in 1982 after a military coup. It seeks to establish for the first time a presidential system for ruling the modern republic created from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire.
"We have to seize this opportunity to boost Turkey on a global scale and place her in the place that she deserves in the world," said Erdogan during a recent rally, claiming that the new system would also facilitate combat against terrorism emanating from the Islamic State and the People's Workers Party.
Critics have claimed that the changes are part of a power grabbed by Erdogan, three time prime minister from 2003 to 2014 and president ever since, for one man rule after a failed coup last summer.
"We absolutely do not favor that the future of Turkey should be handed to a single man, that's why we are saying no, in order to prevent chaos and catastrophe," said Kilicdaroglu heralded by his supporters as the Ghandi of Turkey because of his mild-mannered ways and humble reputation, in strong contradiction with the aggressive and dominant yet very popular Erdogan.
"The powers that Mr. Erdogan wants were not even given to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk when he was leading a war of independence against western occupation forces before the creation of the Turkish republic in 1923," Kilicdaroglu said.
Asked what would be the most important keyword to describe what Turkey needed at this point, the main opposition leader replied without hesitation, "democracy."
Turkey has decreed an emergency state after last June coup attempt masterminded according to the government by the Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen who lives in the United States and thousands have been jailed or suspended in a major crackdown ever since.
Ankara is also entangled in a row with Europe where several countries have banned rallies by Turkish politicians to drum support for a "yes" in the referendum.
Turkey announced late Monday a series of sanctions against the Netherlands where a Turkish cabinet member was forced to leave the country and barred by the police from entering the Turkish consulate on Saturday.
Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus denied Tuesday claims by critics of a "conspiracy" organized by the government to trigger a crisis with Europe in order to rally his support base and the nationalists that Erdogan is trying to woo before the referendum next month.
Many European nations have expressed concern about Turkey's response to the coup attempt after which massive civil servants, academics and journalists have been removed from their posts or jailed.
The bitter dispute could even risk breaking for good thorny accession talks between Turkey and the European Union as Turkey's EU affairs minister Omer Celik called on Wednesday for a revision of an important refugee deal sealed by the two sides to stem mass migration especially from Syria to Europe.
Just weeks before the crucial vote, Kilicdaroglu predicted a very close race in April and expressed determination of listening and understanding every layer of the Turkish society, including conservative masses which constitute the backbone of the ruling Justice and Development Party supporters in his political campaign "in a spirit of solidarity."
