BBC reporting a call from Trump to Turkey's Erdogan 18 April
- in a phone call, the US president also thanked Erdogan for supporting America's missile strike on a Syrian government airbase on 7 April.
No prizes for guessing what the agenda is here.
Sunday's referendum gave Erdogan sweeping new powers in a narrow 51.4% victory which was ruled valid by Turkey's electoral body, despite claims of irregularities by the opposition and concerns expressed by international monitors.
Despite saying that the voting day was "well administered", the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the Council of Europe criticised the referendum campaign, saying:
- It was an "unlevel playing field" and the two sides of the campaign "did not have equal opportunities"
- It was unbalanced due to the active involvement of the president and several senior officials
- It was tarnished by a number of officials equating No supporters with terrorist sympathisers
- State resources were misused
- Under the state of emergency, essential fundamental freedoms were curtailed
- Despite some measures, the legal framework remained inadequate for a genuinely democratic referendum
Erdogan's response typically forthright/provocative was :
"Know your place."
The BBC has more here
Erdogan has dismissed claims of vote-rigging
