PBS高端访谈:土耳其通过公投扩张总统权力

 　　The administration of Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is claiming victory in today's referendum to expand the president's executive powers.

　　With 99 percent of the votes counted, Turkish election officials said 51 percent of Turks voted "yes" to amend¹ the country's constitution.

　　It will result in abolishing the office of prime minister and allowing the president to draft the budget, issue decrees, and appoint judges without parliamentary approval.

　　President Erdogan cast his ballot² in Istanbul and called a "yes" vote, quote, "a choice for change and transformation³."

　　Opponents charge the changes will lead to authoritarian⁴, one- man rule, and they have already begun challenging the results.

　　For more on the referendum, I'm joined via Skype from Istanbul by "New York Times" reporter Patrick Kingsley.

　　Patrick, this is close. I'm sure you've been watching it all night. But one side is claiming victory and the other side says, not so fast.

　　Well, exactly. The administration of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has claimed victory.

　　His prime minister, Binali Yildirim, who will be out of a job, thanks to this constitutional change, has just made a speech claiming victory.

　　The main opposition⁵ party, however, is contesting what it says around 37 percent of ballot boxes and that could be well over 2 million votes in there.

　　What are the concerns that the opposition has?

　　They're claiming that that there had been ballot stuffing.

　　There had been circulating unverified vides of individuals taking, for example, five ballot slips and placing them within a ballot box.

　　And the main opposition party, the CHP, says there could be thousands of such instances, but this is yet to be proved.

　　How strong is the possibility that the opposition can mount enough of a challenge to take over the rule of president in a couple of years?

　　I mean, it's — for people watching in the United States, how competitive is it there?

　　It feels very unlikely at the moment. President Erdogan is without doubt the most popular man in Turkey,

　　even if he is a very divisive man and it seems to split the country in two.

　　There is another figure within the main opposition party who is currently out of jail who could mount a particularly strong opposition to him, never say never,

　　but he seems unlikely to win in 2019 and his political party seems likely to be the biggest party in parliament.

　　The only means of writing a check on the president's power would be if opposition party has managed to form a majority in parliament.

　　But the way that the political landscape in Turkey looks right now, that also seems unlikely.

　　How much of a factor did the attempted coup⁶ play into this vote?

　　I think it may have a major effect, because President Erdogan was able to show that there was a very real threat to Turkish democracy.

　　He was able to say, we were elected and the faction⁷ within the army tried to surface from power.

　　And for that reason, we need to create stability and you the electorate⁸ need to vote for this constitutional change that would centralize power in the hands of the president.

　　Was Turkey and was Erdogan conscious of what the rest of the world thought about this referendum and what happens tomorrow?

　　They were very conscious because and the reason why President Erdogan and his allies stoked so many battles in particular with European and European politicians,

　　he called the Europeans Nazis⁹, in particular in Holland and Germany, the reason why he did all that was to create the illusion of a Turkey under siege,

　　and had the effect of rallying nationalist voters to his cause.

　　It made them to think that President Erdogan was the only person standing¹⁰ up for them and Turkey.

　　And for that reason, they needed to vote for him. So, he was very aware of what people thought of Turkey and he would play on that and use that to his advantage.

　　All right. "New York Times" reporter, Patrick Kingsley, joining us via Skype from Istanbul tonight — thanks so much.

　　Thank you. undefined

1 amend   

vt.修改，修订，改进；n.[pl.]赔罪，赔偿

参考例句：

• The teacher advised him to amend his way of living.老师劝他改变生活方式。
• You must amend your pronunciation.你必须改正你的发音。

2 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

3 transformation   

n.变化；改造；转变

参考例句：

• Going to college brought about a dramatic transformation in her outlook.上大学使她的观念发生了巨大的变化。
• He was struggling to make the transformation from single man to responsible husband.他正在努力使自己由单身汉变为可靠的丈夫。

4 authoritarian   

n./adj.专制(的)，专制主义者，独裁主义者

参考例句：

• Foreign diplomats suspect him of authoritarian tendencies.各国外交官怀疑他有着独裁主义倾向。
• The authoritarian policy wasn't proved to be a success.独裁主义的政策证明并不成功。

5 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

6 coup   

n.政变；突然而成功的行动

参考例句：

• The monarch was ousted by a military coup.那君主被军事政变者废黜了。
• That government was overthrown in a military coup three years ago.那个政府在3年前的军事政变中被推翻。

7 faction   

n.宗派，小集团；派别；派系斗争

参考例句：

• Faction and self-interest appear to be the norm.派系之争和自私自利看来非常普遍。
• I now understood clearly that I was caught between the king and the Bunam's faction.我现在完全明白自己已陷入困境，在国王与布纳姆集团之间左右为难。

8 electorate   

n.全体选民；选区

参考例句：

• The government was responsible to the electorate.政府对全体选民负责。
• He has the backing of almost a quarter of the electorate.他得到了几乎1/4选民的支持。

9 Nazis   

n.（德国的）纳粹党员( Nazi的名词复数 )；纳粹主义

参考例句：

• The Nazis worked them over with gun butts. 纳粹分子用枪托毒打他们。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Nazis were responsible for the mass murder of Jews during World War Ⅱ. 纳粹必须为第二次世界大战中对犹太人的大屠杀负责。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。