Putin congratulated Erdogan on a successful referendum

In a telephone conversation, Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated his Turkish colleague Recep Tayyip Erdogan on a referendum to amend the Turkish Constitution. This was reported by the Kremlin press service.

Also, during the conversation, the leaders of the countries discussed the situation in Syria and noted the need to strengthen the regime of cessation of hostilities and promoting the intersiral negotiation process in the Astana and Geneva formats.

In addition, Putin and Erdogan talked about the importance of a thorough investigation of the incident with the possible use of chemical weapons in Idlib. The leaders also discussed the further development of Russian-Turkish relations and agreed on the continuation of personal contacts.

The referendum in Turkey took place on April 16. 51.41% of participants supported amendments to the Constitution of the country.

According to the changes, the president becomes the head of the government, and also receives the right to appoint ministers and other senior officials. In addition, he can dissolve the parliament, introduce a state of emergency and issue decrees that will immediately have the status of laws and enter into force without the approval of deputies. The amendments also resurrect the current term of the presidential powers of Erdogan, and new extends from four to five years.

Later in Turkey, protests were held against the results of the referendum. Representatives of the Turkish opposition said that there were violations when counting the votes.