U.S. Vice President Warns North Korea Against Testing U.S. Resolve.
RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN, PRESIDENT OF TURKEY (through translator): Hopefully once the polls are closed and votes are counted, Turkey will march toward the future by making the expected choice. I believe that my people have common sense and they will put the campaign that was carried out so far and walk to the future with common sense.</s>KEMAL KILCCLAROGLU, CH PARTY LEADER (through translator): We led an extremely good campaign process. We embraced all our citizens. We did not deny anyone. We are voting for the fate of Turkey today. All our citizens will attend the ballot boxes and the responsible way to cast their votes.</s>ROBYN KRIEL, HOST: Hello and welcome to a special hour of Connect the World. I'm Robin Kriel in Atlanta. Becky Anderson is standing by in Ankara, Turkey. But we are having problems reaching her. We will try to get her just as quickly as possible to follow the erupting story really in Turkey. It is past 6:00 in the evening in Turkey and the sun is slowly starting to head off. It could come to rise over a new Turkey tomorrow. We are just a few hours away from finding out if the millions of people who took part in today's historic vote chose to radically change the way the country is run, yanking powers away from parliament and handing vast new ones to this man, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who cast his vote in Istanbul earlier. Now, who runs this country and the way they get to do it matters to all of us, because Turkey is a big, global player in a lot of ways. Just before tonight's show, Becky Anderson went out to the streets of Ankara to see what all that could mean.</s>BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is the AK Party headquarters, the seat of power of the ruling party that was co-founded by President Erdogan. You can see the big campaign banners. Now, up until now the president of the country couldn't officially be a member of a party, but that will change if the vote is for yes in this referendum meaning that President Erdogan can rejoin the party that he once co- founded. You can see the media setting up and getting ready here as well because this will be where the AK Party will hold its rally if it were to win Sunday's vote. A couple of blocks away and a less animated scene, perhaps that the headquarters of the CHP, the opposition party pushing no in this referendum. This is one of the thousands of polling stations across the country, this one set up at a primary school in downtown Ankara. Let's go and find out what's going on inside. In Turkey you can only vote in the city that you are resident of, so you have to be registered and your name needs to be on the voter's list. So bring their IDs and have their names checked before getting handed the piece of paper. Ivet (ph) for yes, Hair (ph) for no. You then go into the booths and stamp your preference before dropping it into the box. And have a look at this, this is the presidential palace behind me which you can see from across town. An imposing building, and what goes on there could forever change depending on the results of this referendum.</s>KRIEL: That's Becky Anderson from Ankara, the view in Ankara. A few hundred meters away is whtat's by far and away this country's largest city, that is Istanbul in Turkey. About one out every five Turks live there and part of that mix right now is CNN's Ian Lee. Hi, Ian. Obviously you can't speculate on the results, but what have you been seeing today?</s>IAN LEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Robyn. We've been making it to polling stations across the city, three. And we were able to talk to a number of people. We saw a steady flow going in there and the one thing that everyone had in common was a strong opinion, whether it was yes or whether it was no. Those who said yes believe that a stronger president would provide a better economic opportunity, a stronger economy and also more security for this country. Erdogan for them is seen as a father figure, but those who are saying no believe that this is a slippery slope to a more authoritarianism. One woman I spoke with said that she believes that this is just years in the making. Another man said that this does not provide the multi-party, the checks and balances that he would want to see in a government. And so there are these strong opinions either way. But it does look like they're going out, they want their voices heard and whatever will happen we will find out later this evening.</s>KRIEL: Ian, given the military, and the attempted military coup in July of last year and the numerous terror attacks in Istanbul and Ankara, what is security like today?</s>LEE: Security has been ramped up across the country for this referendum. Hundreds of thousands of security personnel were at polling stations all over for this referendum. When we went to one polling station you could see them very visibly, three, four police officers there to make sure everything went smoothly. There were reports of some violence down in the southern part of the country at a polling station, not sure if that was related to the referendum or if that was some other reason for that to happen. By and large, though, it seems like everything has gone fairly smoothly. Now, in the lead up to this referendum according to state media, dozens of people are suspected to be members of ISIS or were arrested. State media saying they were planning to do something on the day of the referendum, Robyn.</s>KRIEL: And Ian, what does the referendum mean to the country? Particularly where you are in Istanbul?</s>LEE: That's a fundamental shift if this vote goes yes because you move, you shift the government from being a parliamentary system to a presidential system where the president is the executive. They would get rid of the prime minister. More power would lie with the president when it comes to the judiciary as well as the parliament, because he would be able to be a member of the party, thus, the head of the party and in Turkey's parliamentary system it's a list system, so the head of the party chooses who is on that list. So it would, some have said, that in this new system, if it does pass, the parliament would be more loyal to the president than the constituents, and that's been one of the criticisms that we've been hearing.</s>KRIEL: All right. Thank you so much, Ian Lee, live in Istanbul for us. We turn now to a new show of defiance by North Korea. The U.S. and South Korea say that Pyongyang tried to test another missile. It blew up almost immediately. CNN's Will Ripley is one of the few western journalists inside North Korea reporting right now. He looks at what the government could do next.</s>WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Just hours after rolling its growing missile arsenal through Kim il-Sung Square, the U.S. and South Korea says North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un tried to take things one step further. U.S. pacific command detected an attempted missile launch at the crack of dawn Sunday. The U.S. says the missile failed within seconds. It was fired from Simpo (ph) on North Korea's east coast, home of the nation's submarine base and the site of another failed missile launch last week just ahead of the meeting at Mar-a-Lago between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. The U.S. defense secretary releasing a brief statement saying the president and his military team are aware of North Korea's unsuccessful missile launch. The president has no further comment. The North Korean leader apparently undeterred by mounting international pressure unveiling two never-before-seen intercontinental ballistic missiles at this military parade on Saturday. Analysts say these missiles are most likely mock-ups, but they believe North Korea is working towards the real thing. What should the world think when they see these ballistic missiles rolling by? Is North Korea a threat to the world? "The Korean People's Army is fully ready to attack our enemies at any moment," he says, "if they try to attack us." Despite escalating rhetoric and U.S. war ships and submarines headed for the Korean coast, the nation's Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un did not test a nuclear weapon Saturday as many predicted. "I think we've done something bigger than a nuclear test," this man says. "We've shown the world something much bigger." Analysts say Kim Jong-un could push the button on North Korea's sixth nuclear test at any time. He's already launched more missiles than his father and grandfather combined, and even missile failures help North Korean rocket scientists gain valuable intelligence. Also on display for Day of the Sun celebrations, North Korea's conventional arsenal - tanks, artillery, weapons pointed directly at tens of millions of people in South Korea. Even if North Korea can't match the firepower of the U.S., experts say they have the potential to do a lot of damage and kill a lot of people. What do you want President Trump to know about the North Korean people? "I think President Trump should try to learn more about North Korea and its people," she says. "We are never afraid of the American nuclear threat. We have our own nuclear weapons to counter those threats." Weapons North Korea and its unpredictable leader put on full display promising they're not afraid to use them if provoked. Will Ripley, CNN, Pyongyang.</s>KRIEL: Here's what the U.S. is saying about the missile test. While visiting Afghanistan, National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster maintained the administration's line that all options are on the table in dealing with Pyongyang, although they prefer a diplomatic solution. And the U.S. vice president, who is in South Korea right now, called the test a provocation. Mike Pence says that America's commitment to Seoul is stronger than ever. CNN's Paula Hancocks is in the South Korean capital and she joins us now live with more on the U.S. vice president's visit. Paula, thank you for your time. What else did the vice president have to say during his address in church earlier?</s>PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Robyn, he did meet some of the troops here in South Korea, the U.S. troops. There are about 28,000-plus that are here at any given time, and he said that the United States appreciates what they are doing given the threat that they are under, talking about the provocation that we saw this Sunday morning as he called it from North Korea, that failed missile launch. And we know he will also be meeting with some of the South Korean politicians on Monday. He'll be meeting with the acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn, and also the national security adviser, but of course he is going to be meeting with officials here in South Korea that aren't actually going to be in power within the a few weeks. It's a very tricky time for the vice president to actually be in South Korea. There's no actual president -- it's just an acting president that the former president Park Geun-hye was impeached and imprisoned over a corruption scandal and certainly it's difficult for many of the U.S. officials who have come over here to say too much because, of course, they're meeting, as I say, the acting president is not going to be in power in a few weeks. But what the South Koreans want is they want the U.S. to confirm the alliance, to reconfirm that they are standing side by side with South Korea. They want to make sure that they have that full commitment - Robyn.</s>KRIEL: Commitment more like the vice president visiting. You've been covering South Korea for years now, Paula. You've seen this ramp up of tensions before. Warships being moved into the region, missiles being launched. What's different this time?</s>HANCOCKS: Well, from the North Korean point of view, there's not a huge amount that's different. We have seen in recent years a huge amount of testing, more certainly in 2016, more frantic testing than we have ever seen in North Korea's history. Kim Jong-un certainly seems to be in a rush to perfect his nuclear missile capability. He's been very clear about that. He has said that this is his intention and he's been saying that consistently for some years. I think what's different now, certainly, for many people in the region, is a new U.S. president suspect is there going to be a different approach as the U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson promised there would be when he was here a matter of weeks ago and certainly we're seeing some uncertainty as to what exactly the North Korean policy is going to be. As you said, as the National Security Adviser McMaster said that all options are on the table. There is a more open discussion now about a potential preemptive strike on North Korea. Now, whether or not this is a strategic ploy by the United States, it is not clear, but it does raise tensions. It does raise concerns that there could be this unknown entity which really during the Obama administration was barely mentioned.</s>KRIEL: All right, thank you so much. Paula Hancocks, keeping an eye on the Korean peninsula for us today. Well, still to come, Turkey's involvement in Syria and its support for any Raqqa offensive will clearly be influenced by result of the historic referendum. We'll have more analysis on this later, and including the crucial role that Turkey's diaspora could play in this vote.