Taksim Square closed in Istanbul

In Istanbul, the central Taksim Square is closed to traffic. Turkish news agency Dogan reported that the decision was made for security reasons.

In Turkey, the counting of votes in the constitutional referendum on expanding the powers of the president is coming to an end. According to the results of processing 95 percent of the ballots, 51.7 percent of the Turks voted for the reform, more than 48.5 percent opposed it.

The first preliminary results of the referendum showed that the supporters of the reform were in the lead by a 20 percent margin.

In Istanbul, there were slightly more opponents of the reform than its supporters.

• The constitutional referendum in Turkey is being held at the initiative of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The reform provides for the transformation of Turkey from a parliamentary to a presidential republic: the post of prime minister will be abolished, the president will have the right to appoint ministers and the majority of judges of the Constitutional Court, dissolve parliament and declare a state of emergency.
• Erdogan has been in power since 2003, when he became Turkey's prime minister. In 2014, he took over as president. In the event of a constitutional reform, new presidential elections will be held in 2019, while Erdogan's current term will be reset to zero. He will be able to run in both 2019 and 2024 - thus, Erdogan will have the opportunity to remain in power until 2029.