Newsman: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan won reelection Sunday entering into a third decade of his Presidency. Recep Tayyip Erdogan defeated the opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu in Sunday’s runoff vote.
Speaking to thousands of his supporters outside the presidential complex in Ankara, Erdogan said that now was the time to “put aside all the debates and conflicts regarding the election period and unite around our national goals and dreams.”
“We are not the only winners, the winner is Turkey. The winner is all parts of our society, our democracy is the winner,” Erdogan said.
Turkey’s Supreme Election Council (YSK) announced preliminary official results on Sunday showed Erdogan winning with 52.14% of the votes and Kilicdaroglu received 47.86% with 99.43% of the votes counted.
Foreign leaders including those of Russia, Qatar, Libya, Algeria, Hungary, Iran and the Palestinian Authority were among the first to congratulate Erdogan.
In remarks published on the Kremlin’s website, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the election provided “clear evidence of the Turkish people’s support” for Erdogan’s efforts “to strengthen state sovereignty and pursue an independent foreign policy.”
US President Joe Biden also congratulated Erdogan, tweeting that he looked forward to working together “as NATO allies” on “bilateral issues and shared global challenges.”
President Erdogan said among the government’s main priorities would be fighting inflation and healing the wounds from a catastrophic earthquake on February 6 which claimed more than 50,000 lives in Turkey and neighboring Syria.
Speaking at his party headquarters in the capital Ankara, defeated leader KemaKilicdaroglu said he would continue to fight until there is “real democracy” in Turkey.
“This was the most unfair election period in our history… We did not bow down to the climate of fear,” he said. “In this election, the will of the people to change an authoritarian government became clear despite all the pressures.”
Kilicdaroglu said what “truly makes me sad is the hard days ahead for our country.”
