ANKARA // Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday angrily rejected criticism by international monitors of a referendum granting him extra powers that was disputed by the opposition and exposed bitter divisions in the country.
The referendum was seen as crucial not just for shaping Turkey's political system but also the future strategic direction of a nation that has been a Nato member since 1952 and a European Union hopeful for half a century.
Returning in triumph to his presidential palace in Ankara, Mr Erdogan addressed thousands of supporters gathered outside, telling monitors who criticised the poll: "Know your place."
Showing no sign of pulling his punches, the president also said Turkey could hold further referendums on its EU bid and re-introducing the death penalty.
His comments came as Turkey's top security body on Monday backed another three-month extension of the state of emergency imposed after last July's failed coup against Mr Erdogan, broadcaster NTV reported.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the national security council chaired by the president, two days before the emergency was due to end.
In Sunday's referendum, meanwhile, the "Yes" camp won 51.41 per cent of the vote, according to complete results released by election authorities.
But the opposition immediately cried foul, claiming a clean vote would have made a difference of several percentage points and handed them victory.
The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) said they would challenge the results from most ballot boxes due to alleged violations.
"There is only one decision to ease the situation in the context of the law - the Supreme Election Board (YSK) should annul the vote," the Dogan news agency quoted CHP deputy leader Bulent Tezcan as saying.
The referendum has no "democratic legitimacy", HDP spokesman and MP Osman Baydemir meanwhile said in Ankara.
There were sporadic protests in Istanbul with hundreds of people crowding the anti-Erdogan Besiktas district, blowing whistles and chanting "we are against fascism".
The opposition had already complained of an unfair campaign which saw the "Yes" backers swamp the airwaves and use billboards across the country in a saturation advertising campaign.
International observers agreed the campaign was conducted on an "unlevel playing field" and that the vote count itself was marred by late procedural changes that removed key safeguards.
"The legal framework ... remained inadequate for the holding of a genuinely democratic referendum," the OSCE office for democratic institutions and human rights (ODIHR) and the parliamentary assembly of the council of Europe (Pace) monitors said in a joint statement.
The Turkish opposition was particularly incensed by a decision by the YSK to allow voting papers without official stamps to be counted, which they said opened the way for fraud.
"Late changes in counting procedures removed an important safeguard," said Cezar Florin Preda, the head of the Pace delegation.
But Mr Erdogan said Turkey had no intention of paying any attention to the report.
"This country held the most democratic polls that have never been seen in any other country in the West," he said.
He had earlier congratulated cheering supporters at Ankara's airport for "standing tall" in the face of the "crusader mentality" of the West.
Turkey's western allies have shown little enthusiasm for congratulating Mr Erdogan and the president has given ominous signs of a looming crisis with the EU.
The president reaffirmed on Monday that he would now hold talks on reinstating capital punishment, a move that would automatically end Turkey's EU bid, and would hold a referendum if it did not get enough votes in parliament to become law.
German foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel said that if Ankara were to bring back the death penalty, the move would be "synonymous with the end of the European dream" and mark the end of decades of talks to enter the EU.
Saudi Arabia, however, praised the "success" of the referendum, voicing "congratulations to president Erdogan of Turkey and the Turkish people on the success of the referendum regarding constitutional reforms", the official Saudi Press Agency reported.
At its weekly meeting the Saudi cabinet said it hoped the vote would contribute to "more development success across the country".
* Agence France-Presse
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