Turkey's President Speaks After Referendum; World at the Crossroads.
BRIGGS: Four-forty-one Eastern Time. Now to a CNN world exclusive: Turkey's president insisting Sunday's referendum vastly expanded his powers was not a step towards dictatorship. CNN's Becky Anderson spoke with Recep Erdogan. She joins us from Ankara with more. Good morning to you, Becky. How is President Erdogan reacting to worldwide calls that he's moving this country away from democracy towards dictatorship?</s>BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, not surprisingly, he's insistent that one this referendum was a democratic exercise and the result is the will of the people here in Turkey, and two, that the tectonic shift in the way that this country will be run going forward. He says has sufficient checks and balances to ensure that it's about more than just one man's rule. So, is this a march towards dictatorship? I put that to him.</s>RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN, TURKISH PRESIDENT (through translator): A dictatorship, to exist, you don't necessarily have to have a presidential system. Here, we have an election, a ballot box. If you say ballot box produces a dictator, that would be unjust, unfair to the ballot box process and to those who cast their ballots in that box.</s>ANDERSON: And this was a big defeat for the opposition parties here in Turkey. They ran one of their best campaigns ever, despite winning in big urban centers like here in Ankara. They still came up short. They insist there were irregularities during the voting process, stuffing ballots if you will to the tune of 2.5 million is the charge even before the first ballot was cast, they said the deck was stacked against them. They said given the crackdown on dissents since the military coup back in July last year and ongoing state of emergency, they say they were effectively muzzled and there was no level playing field -- guys.</s>BRIGGS: Becky Anderson live for us. Yes, the media, journalists jailed on a regular basis there. Not a lot of word from the opposition. Becky, thank you.</s>KOSIK: Let's go ahead and talk all about these global headlines, including what Becky just talked about, CNN's chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour joining us live now from London. Good morning to you. So, I want to talk about Erdogan himself. I mean, it's hard to not see how this is a government that's moving away from the parliamentary system and seeing this concentration of power clearly in his lap. But there's this sort of fascination that this president seems to have with Erdogan, when I say this, President Trump called to congratulate him on this power grab, which in itself is unusual. But even President Obama was accused of being too nice to Erdogan. He even called Erdogan one of the foreign leaders who he talked to the most. What is it about Erdogan where U.S. leaders go soft on him?</s>CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you have to distinguish between the timing because back in 2008, president at the time, Prime Minister Erdogan was a very close Western ally. Obviously, the west was very keen to keep him within their orbit because he had come in to office in the early 2000s and had really turned Turkey much, much closer towards a functioning democracy. Turkey had seen many military coups over its many, many years since the fall of the Ottoman Empire. It's a long and complex history. And Erdogan did actually turn Turkey towards democracy. But things started to go a little bit away from pure democracy the longer he stayed in power. Then, when he did sort of a Putin like swap and took the presidency and then had a prime minister installed, then, you know, people got more and more concerned that the longer he's in office, the longer this kind of power goes to his head. So, while his own allies say this is -- you know, just like in America or French or South Korean presidential system, in fact, it's not really. He can, for instance, appoint the majority of the main judges, 12 out of 15 of the judiciary and as Becky was saying the press has been hammered over the last several years. I had many conversations with him over the past. I will say, however, that the fact that he lost for the first time Istanbul, Ankara and the other big cities is very significant and it probably will make governing much more difficult and much more less likely than he can just railroad over the opposition. But it's very difficult. There's the opposition exists under a state of emergency since the failed coup last year and all those concentrated powers are essentially now in the hands of the presidency.</s>BRIGGS: And many hitting President Trump for being the one western leader that called to congratulate Erdogan on the victory, but let's move from that referendum to the surprising elections called for by Theresa May, the British prime minister, moving up elections from 2020 to June, shocking most, well all analysts for that fact. How big of a gamble is this regarding her referendum, her power, and the future of Brexit negotiations?</s>AMANPOUR: Well, people here don't think it's a huge gamble. They think it's hers for the taking. As the polls stand right now, she's 21 percent ahead of her nearest rival which is the official Labour opposition, 21 points ahead. That's huge. And in 50 days, which is when the election will be held, people will feel it's unlikely that dynamic will change significantly enough for theory lose, they believe she's going to win. The question is, does the opposition band together and make a real sort of opposition and try to define themselves as the sort of de facto referendum on what kind of Brexit this country actually wants, but also is she then going to sideline her own hard right opposition to her negotiations? They want a rapid exit, no questions asked, deal or no deal. And most people believe if that happens without a proper transition, without a proper set of trade deals and other important deals for the United Kingdom, it's like putting a one if to your head and shooting yourself because it's very, very difficult to see how Britain could be better off under a no deal Brexit with the E.U. than under a properly crafted deal.</s>KOSIK: OK. Let's switch gears to North Korea. You know, the U.S. show of force that we heard from President Trump, that was on its way to the Korean peninsula, not so much because we learned that the USS Carl Vinson was actually headed in the opposite direction to the Indian Ocean. Now, we're hearing yes it will go to the Korean peninsula at the end of April. But what gives? I mean, President Trump made this big stand of an armada heading to the Korean peninsula. That didn't really happen.</s>AMANPOUR: Well, as you know, President Trump and the White House has talked about it and the Pentagon has talked about it, has given a lot more leeway to his military commanders. It is General Mattis who is the defense secretary. It's General McMaster who is the national security adviser. And they have much more leeway to conduct geostrategic policy, without necessarily being micromanaged by the White House. Who knows when the final story is written over how this, quote/unquote, "miscommunication" over the location of the Carl Vinson, when that's finally written who knows how that will come out. But what people are concerned about and certainly those in the region and those that study North Korea very, very closely is provoking a miscalculation by North Korea because nobody quite knows how they are going to react and that is what some people say could cause a, quote, "blunder" into war. And Vice President Mike Pence has been in the region. He's been to South Korea. He's been to the DMZ between two Koreas. He's been to Japan. And he's heard directly from the allies there of their fear of a North Korea conventional strike which could easily happen if North Korea decides to lash out. And when it comes to North Korea's nuclear possibility, they really appreciate that the White House, the U.S. administration is getting tougher with North Korea. They all say China also, along with the United States, has to be involved because North Korea, 90 percent of its trade is with China, closest ally and all of that. That has to happen. And they are concerned that nothing to be done to provoke North Korea. But this could be a moment of what people call in the diplomatic world coercive diplomacy, an opportunity for diplomacy by a shove coercive force. That needs to, they say that needs to happen. But, of course, people say diplomacy, serious diplomacy needs to be, needs to be enacted over this very, very crucial issue.</s>BRIGGS: Diplomacy, not yet worked with North Korea. Time will tell. Christiane Amanpour, always great to have your analysis. Thanks so much.</s>KOSIK: OK, it is one of the most iconic banks on Wall Street and several alums have top posts in the Trump administration. But the firm posted its most disappointing earnings report ever. We're going to tell you why when we get a check on CNN Money Stream next.