Turkey: PKK ends unilateral truce with Turkey

“We spotted a discrepancy of 10,000 out of the total 48,000,000 votes cast across Turkey”, it said, adding that this difference amounted to just 0.02 percent of the entire vote and noting that this level of difference was no greater than it was in the June 7 election.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in his post-election victory speech Sunday night that the AK Party would pursue constitutional changes to enhance the role of the president.

In elections last June, Turkish voters denied Erdogan’s governing party a majority in parliament for the first time in 13 years.

Turkey may hold a referendum on changing the constitution to create an executive presidential system and discussions on the issue will accelerate in the period ahead, President Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesman said on Wednesday.

Turkey’s constitution was drawn up under military rule after the 1980 coup d’etat and many argue it has a number of flaws. Ethnic minority Kurds make up about 20% of Turkey’s population. If sweeping amendments to the constitution that were proposed in 2014 were to pass, they would strip a few of the executive power from the parliament while increasing the power of the presidency. In the case of Sunday’s elections, it appears that Erdoğan’s AKP won the votes of hundreds of thousands of dead people. The hijacking of an electoral democracy by a president with a singular vision for the future of the country is not new in the world of liberal democracies, but it is certainly a new phenomenon in Turkey. But being the sole party in power, Erdogan will be able to reassert his influence over government from the grandeur of his newly built presidential palace. “He is already a strong leader constitutionally and has already passed into history”.

Gulen was once Erdogan’s ally, but the two fell out in recent years, sparking a rivalry and purge of alleged Gulenists in state institutions.

Four militants were also killed in clashes in the southeast earlier this week.

The announcement from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) came after a spate of deadly clashes and days of Turkish bombing raids targeting its fighters in southeastern Turkey and across the border in northern Iraq.

“We expect the government to halt all military and police operations and show the will for the ceasefire to become mutual”, the HDP said in a statement after meeting other pro-Kurdish groups.

The attack, which shocked the country, led to a series of events which many believe helped AKP win back their majority with most citizens fearing a return to chaos under a coalition government unable to govern.

The autonomy-seeking PKK, listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, took up arms in 1984.