Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday called on people to vote «yes» in a referendum later this month on whether the president should be directly elected by the people. «I am calling on all to vote 'yes' during the referendum to elect the 12th president,» Erdogan told party members in Parliament on Tuesday. The vote is due to take place on Oct. 21. Erdogan's statement comes weeks after he scored a major political triumph: the election of his close ally Abdullah Gul as Turkey's 11th president. Under the proposed change, the term of the president will be limited to five years but president will be allowed to run for a second term. Erdogan suggested that any changes would not affect Gul's current, seven-year term, the Associated Press reported.
