Catalan officials have claimed that preliminary results of its referendum have shown 90% in favour of independence in the vote vehemently opposed by Spain.
Jordi Turull, the Catalan regional government spokesman, told reporters early on Monday morning that 90% of the 2.26 million Catalans who voted Sunday chose yes. He said nearly 8% of voters rejected independence and the rest of the ballots were blank or void. The region has 5.3 million registered voters. Turull said the number of ballots did not include those confiscated by Spanish police during raids.
The violence Sunday left more than 890 civilians injured in the melee, two seriously. The Interior Ministry said 39 police received immediate medical treatment and 392 others had scrapes and bruises.
In a television address after polls closed Sunday in the northeastern region, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said the great majority of Catalans did not "follow the script of the secessionists." Rajoy said the independence referendum only served to sow divisions. He thanked the Spanish police, saying they acted with "firmness and serenity" in response to the referendum.
Rajoy offered political discussions, but said any dialogue must be held "within the law". "I propose that all political parties with parliamentary representation meet and, together, reflect on the future we all face," he said.
The leader of Catalonia called for international mediation on Monday to "resolve" a standoff with Madrid. "It is not a domestic matter," Carles Puigdemont told a news conference on Monday. He said it was "obvious that we need mediation", adding: "We don't want a traumatic break ... We want a new understanding with the Spanish state."
Spain's Constitutional Court had ordered the vote to be suspended and central authorities say it's illegal. Regional separatist leaders have pledged to hold it anyway. The Catalan parliament adopted the referendum bill in early September, which, however, was challenged by the Spanish government in the Constitutional Court that declared the vote illegal.
CATALONIA'S CURRENT CONFLICT
Under fascist Francisco Franco’s dictatorship, the autonomy status of Catalonia was revoked. After Franco’s death that followed, the unitary state evolved into a state composed of 17 autonomous regions. Under the 1978 Constitution and the 1979 Statute of Autonomy, Catalonia was granted extensive rights and freedoms. Catalonia created its own parliament and government, police, radio and television, while the Catalan language was given an official status alongside Spanish.
Catalonia’s current conflict with the central government dates back to 2006, when a new Statute of Catalonian Autonomy was adopted to extend the region’s autonomy, which led to a political and legal standoff, with seven legal entities contending that a number of provisions in the new statute clashed with the Spanish Constitution and challenging them at the Constitutional Court of Spain. In June 2010, the Court recognized Catalonia’s high degree of autonomy, while also declaring 14 provisions of the Autonomous Statute fully or partially unconstitutional.
The situation was aggravated by the economic crisis that hit Spain. In recent years, the nationalist sentiment has evolved into separatism.
ECONOMIC HEAVYWEIGHT
Catalonia is one of the powerhouses of the Spanish economy, buoyed by industry, research and tourism but burdened with a heavy debt. Contributing 19 percent of Spain's GDP in 2016, Catalonia rivals Madrid for the distinction of being the richest region in the country. The region is by far Spain's top exporting region, with a quarter of all goods produced there sold abroad in 2016 and in the first quarter of 2017. If independence were to happen, Spain's economy ministry says that its GDP would fall 25 to 30 percent and unemployment would double.
If independence were to happen, Spain's economy ministry claims that its GDP would fall 25 to 30 percent and unemployment would double.
Support for independence has grown over the past few years as Spain has endured a painful and protracted economic crisis.
TKP: PEOPLE SHOULD UNITE AND SHIFT THIS INFAMOUS ORDER
Kemal Okuyan, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP), had touched upon the Catalan referendum in his interview with soL on September 18.
"Catalonia is a very rich and developed region. There is also no ethnic pressure in its usual forms. Moreover, the Catalans do not like the rest of Spain. Barcelona regards Madrid as the countryside. Now they want to build their own state. An underlying selfish motivation is re-generated today mainly by the aim of not transferring resources to the rest of Spain," Okuyan said.
"Many countries have similar regional inequalities, and if every region acts only with the principle of self-interests, humanity will suffer from great pains and new conflicts will emerge. Suppose that a country’s water resources are located in a certain region, and that country says, 'Water is mine,' or industrial or energy resources. They could not resolve this problem. Capitalism is such a social system that fosters and legitimates selfishness. It does not pay attention to social interests. Catalonia’s independence has nothing to contribute to humanity, no matter how they decorate it. That does not stand for legitimating the present order in Spain. The people should unite and shift this infamous order," he stressed.
