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Clashes erupted Sunday between groups of citizens and police around Turkey as the nation voted on a constitutional amendment package and dozens of people were detained on suspicion of preventing voters from heading to the polls, reports Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review.
Groups boycotting the vote clashed with police in the southern provinces of Mersin and Adana, as well as in Istanbul.
A group of people wearing masks burned a car and a bus in front of a school in Mersin to keep people from voting, causing police to intervene, news agencies reported.
Another group that came to the school to vote argued with a separate faction in front of the local pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party, or BDP, building, the Anatolia news agency reported. The disagreement turned into a fight, again drawing police intervention. Ten people were detained as a result of the altercation.
Strict security measures were put in place throughout the country’s eastern and southeastern provinces for the poll.
The turnout for the referendum in eastern Anatolia remained low, as the majority of citizens who went to the polls said yes to the constitutional amendment package.
In the eastern provinces of Batman, Hakkari and Şırnak, the boycott call was heavily heeded, the Doğan news agency reported. Widespread boycotts of the vote were also observed in Ağrı, Ardahan, Diyarbakır, Iğdır, Kars, Muş and Van, though not as significantly so in Bitlis, Mardin and Tunceli.
Thirty people were detained in Hakkari on allegations of obstructing people from voting, while 20 were taken into custody for similar alleged offenses in Van.
In Şırnak, a group of temporary village guards and another group clashed over voting, resulting in injuries to eight people, the Anatolia news agency reported. Abit İke, the BDP’s Şırnak head, accused the guards of provoking the event and said gendarmerie forces watched and did nothing during the fight, the Doğan news agency reported.
The outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, attacked a car that was transporting votes that were to be counted at the district election board in Hakkari with guns and rocket launchers, Doğan news agency reported. One soldier was injured in the attack.
In nearby Şanlıurfa, BDP deputy İbrahim Binici became involved in an argument with a polling clerk over allegations that some people were voting in others’ places. The argument escalated into a fight and the ballot box was thrown out a window, causing it to split apart.
The pro-Kurdish news agency Fırat News meanwhile reported that more than 140 people in several provinces were detained over the past three days.
Çiğdem Kılıçgün Uçar, the head of the BDP’s Istanbul office, told the Hürriyet that dozens of party members were detained “for unexplained reasons” and that there were problems with party observers.
“The party observers [are allowed to] stand by the ballot box all day long and observe,” Uçar said. “But the head polling clerk told our friends they could only come when the ballot boxes are opened and observe.”
Arguments over the issue resulted in a number of detentions, according to Uçar, who added that the party had received similar complaints from 10 Istanbul districts, including Bağcılar and Kartal, to which it had dispatched lawyers.
The BDP perceived the detentions as an effort to weaken the party’s boycott call, she said.
Violence also erupted in Istanbul’s Sancaktepe Gazi neighborhood between police and groups that were supporting a boycott of the country’s constitutional referendum.
Some people allegedly threw Molotov cocktails at police, while others reportedly threw stones at the windows of schools where voters were casting ballots.
One school in the neighborhood was damaged slightly due to a Molotov cocktail attack that led to the detention of six people. Voting in the school continued after a break.
A Molotov cocktail was also thrown at a school in Istanbul’s Beyoğlu district. The group that allegedly threw the explosive was also accused of breaking the windows of a school and smashing the glass at a nearby bus stop.