I would not have. Nor am I surprised by today's 5 eyes news reports.
Henri Barkey: " Turks have a tendency to buck the system when they feel that the rules of the game are unfair or that they are being bullied by their leaders. No one should assume that the vote will turn out the way Erdogan has planned"
Henri Barkey is telling us the masses will buck the system- I disagree with that statement- A disappointing reality I've long come to terms with is the majority will go along- They don't think. They merely accept- So the initial part of his statement can be dismissed. It's simply paying lip service- It's an empty platitude.The more interesting part of his statement is "No one should assume that the vote will turn out the way Erdogan has planned"I was making the point yesterday that prior to undertaking this referendum there would have been polling and lots of it- In my more naive days I worked on election campaigns- I get the idea of internal polling. Knowing as I do how this game works, it was interesting to me that Henri Barkey said "no one should assume that the vote will turn out---- as planned"Henri Barkey was correct- the referendum didn't have the results that were likely documented via polls for months in advance. That however doesn't mean any bucking of the system occurred. Yesterday I watched Turkey’s referendum unfold as it happened. As initial results came in the Yes side was way ahead. And I do mean way ahead. Along that 60/40 polling I had previously mentioned - Then something changed. The no side began to really pick up, in a rather unexpected, to me, way. Let me mention, there was never a time that the no side was in the lead, from my monitoring the two sites mentioned yesterday. Checking repeatedly over about 4 hours time.Yenisafak had an interactive map that was updating regularly. jamesinturkey was live blogging and every time a news post was made there was a ding to notify you of the latest news.I'm pleased to see the Kremlin spokesperson is suggesting respecting Turkey's referendum result
"We believe that everyone should respect the will of the Turkish people," Peskov told reporters, according to Russian news agency TASS.
He said referendum was internal matter of Turkey.
Of course the 5 eyes media, alt and msm, is hell bent on delegitimizing the referendum- There's even an "activist" video! Of course. There's always an activist video.The first hint of impending 5 eyes media trouble came via this speculative report
11:58 6.57pm Block results service? by MikeOn CNN Turk, journalist Murat Yetkin says there is speculation that the Supreme Election Commission (YSK) has blocked its results service to some political parties.
Some time later there were claims that ballots were counted which weren’t “official”Belfast Telegraph
Claim: “The High Electoral Board in Turkey made a late decision on the night of the referendum to count ballots that had not been stamped by officials”
Response to that accusation “head of that Board, Sadi Guven, defended the process, saying all the ballot papers that were counted were not fake or cast fraudulently”
Sadi Guven is saying all ballot papers counted were not fake or cast fraudulently-Considering the response should we accept that the claim is valid or take it as just perception management?
Claim:“Bulent Tezcan, deputy chairman of Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party, claimed the decision was made after it appeared the "no" votes were ahead of the "yes" votes, and that initial counting of the ballots happened in secret”
An unsupported but absolutely expected opposition comment. However there is no evidence to support this claim-1-What ballots were counted in secret? He doesn't say. 2-Where did this take place? He doesn't say. A recount would be necessary to even begin to validate such claims- He has offered no proof to support his statement unless he is relying on the "activist" video posted to social media... By the way, Isn't that convenient? These types of proofs should always be taken with a grain of salt- We have activist videos galore regarding ‘peaceful revolutions’ ‘chemical weapons use’ and so called "rescues" via white helmets. To be blunt, "they don't mean shit"These "activist videos" are created for the usage of 5 eyes media in order to promote certain perceptions for the advancement of specific agendas. Via the Daily Mail I've written abundantly regarding the Turkish referendum- if you are remotely unfamiliar with previous posts find them below: