Turkey in quarrel with all European institutions

The referendum is over and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan secured a narrow win for the "Yes" campaign, heralding a new era for the entire country. 

However, the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) has appealed to the Supreme Election Board (YSK) for the annulment of the referendum on the grounds that it violated the law by controversially deeming unsealed ballot papers as valid, thus leading to question marks over the result's accuracy. Although the annulment of the polls is not expected, questions over the legitimacy of one of Turkey's most historic referendums will linger for a long time. 

Moreover, these questions will not preoccupy only Turkish citizens and opposition groups who voted "No" in the referendum, they will also preoccupy Turkey's partners in Europe, particularly the European Union, the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Council of Europe. 

Statements and reports issued from these institutions, as well as from individual countries, all underline this very fact, which of course has the potential to further fuel tension between Turkey and these institutions and countries. 

Unfortunately, this situation is likely to frustrate any pragmatic plans from some members of the Turkish government to urgently fix ties with the EU in order to return to normalcy and a business-as-usual mode.  

Apart from individual disputes with a number of European countries like Germany and the Netherlands, Ankara recently sparred with the Council of Europe's Venice Commission over the latter's report stating that the constitutional amendments would lead Turkey to autocracy. Many in the EU have interpreted the content of this report as Turkey's distancing itself from the Copenhagen Criteria and...