Ushering the country into a presidential system, Turks flocked to the polling stations and approved the changes to the country's constitution with a razor-thin majority. As we pointed out before, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his top aide Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım fought an uphill battle against an opposition that was armed with European support. They had to brave lies and deceit of all kinds to convince the Turkish people that a presidential system will push Turkey forward. Thus, this was a great victory for President Erdoğan.

It was a tough fight and the "yes" vote won.

Now some people will no doubt try to challenge the verdict of the nation and say because it was such a close race the result should be contested… Nonsense…

In 1987 the Turkish nation had lifted bans against the political leaders of Turkey who had been deposed in the 1980 coup with an even smaller majority. Yet the verdict was clear and the bans were lifted. No one tried to keep the bans as the vote was such a close call.

The same happened in Britain. The British people voted to quit the European Union with a very slight majority. Did that stop the British from exiting the EU? The referendum is where the nation has the final say. Now the Turkish people have given their verdict and we all have to obey.

But all this does not mean everything is bright and beautiful. While a bit more than a half of the nation approved the presidential system of government in Turkey, the other portion has shown its reservations, which should be well noted. There is no doubt that President Erdoğan, who is one of the only leaders in Turkey to pay much attention to public opinion, will take note of the sincere objectors…

However, he will also take note of the immense campaign carried out against the changes at home and abroad that was highly antagonistic and destructive and fight back.

It is clear that a majority of the Turkish people who voted "yes" have done this for the immense affection they feel for President Erdoğan. And that, in essence, the vote he has received is more given to him than the cause championed by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and the conservative opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP)…

It is clear that a few AK Party voters have not voted for the changes while a chunk of the MHP voters have turned their backs on the conservative party. This is clear in the "no" votes that were cast in the strongholds of the MHP…

Normally some heads should roll in the AK Party and the MHP leadership should start questioning what went wrong in their own backyard… Everyone should do some soul searching yet everyone should also remember that they now have to live with the verdict of the Turkish people.

So the changes stipulated in the constitution should be carried out with speed and then the amendments in the elections law and the law on political parties, as well as other laws dealing with the functions of a redundant prime minister have to be enacted.