Merkel and Gabriel pointed to the Commission's reservations and said that, as a member of the Council of Europe and the OSCE security and human rights watchdog and an European Union accession candidate, Turkey should quickly address those concerns.
Turkey has also suffered renewed violence between Kurdish militants and security forces in the country's volatile southeast, as well as a string of bombings, some attributed to the Islamic State group, which is active across the border in Syria.
Yesterday's referendum greatly expands the powers of Erdogan's office, and could see him reign until the year 2029.
The poll is also taking place under a state of emergency that has seen 47,000 people arrested in an unprecedented crackdown after the failed putsch of July a year ago.
Asked if the vote was free and democratic, Altmaier said the German government would discuss the result once it was official and election observers would look at whether it was fairly conducted.
The arrests of 47,155 government critics, academics, journalists, military officials and civil servants have draw widespread global condemnation and strained Turkey's relations with the European Union.
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan waves to supporters in Istanbul, Turkey, on Sunday, April 16, 2017. The party has denounced this and other alleged violations of the electoral process.
Cyprus government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides told the Associated Press Monday that it's hoped Turkey's stance will move the peace talks forward toward the stated goal of reunifying the island as a federation.
"We encourage Turkey to address the Council of Europe's concerns and recommendations, including with regards to the state of emergency", the Commission said.
Erdogan: Turkey to switch to presidential form of gov't in 2019
The referendum campaign was highly divisive and heavily one-sided, with the "yes" side dominating the airwaves and billboards. Yesterday's referendum greatly expands the powers of Erdogan's office, and could see him reign until the year 2029.
The spokesman added that Turkey should also cease making "provocative statements" in opposition to the island's offshore oil and gas search.
The head of Turkey's electoral board has since confirmed that the "yes" votes have won.
"These results are questionable, we will not accept them", Kemal Kilicdaroglu, head of the main opposition Republican People's Party, CHP, said after the first results.
"At the moment it is impossible to determine how many such votes there are and how many were stamped later". Opponents of the referendum result were expected to take to the streets across the country Monday. Two men, aged 68 and 32, were shot after two families got into an argument, Anadolu reported.
Opposition officials and experts said one irregularity was a controversial decision - made on the referendum day - by the YSK to accept unsealed ballots.
"This is not a text of social consensus but one of social division", Tezcan said.
Erdogan says the presidential system will ensure the country no longer risks having weak government.
The country's pro-Kurdish opposition party, which also opposed the constitutional changes, says it plans to object to two-thirds of the ballots. Guven said the decision was made so that voters who were by mistake given unstamped ballot papers would not be "victimized".





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