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President Recep Tayyip Erdogan won the Turkish presidential election again, which brought him to power again for a third term. US, NATO and European Union leaders look forward to working with Erdogan. Photo/REUTERS
WASHINGTON – Presiden Recep Tayyip Erdogan again won the presidential election (pilpres) Turkey, which put him in power again for a third term.
The United States (US) and NATO leaders congratulated while looking forward to working together.
Turkey’s Supreme Electoral Council, as quoted by Reuters, Monday (29/5/2023), officially announced that Erdogan had defeated his rival, Kemal Kilicdaroglu.
Erdogan won 52.14% of the vote, while Kilicdaroglu won 47.86% of the vote. The difference between their votes is around 2.2 million.
“Congratulations to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey on his re-election. I look forward to continuing to work together as a NATO Ally on bilateral issues and shared global challenges,” US President Joe Biden wrote on Twitter.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg tweeted: “Congratulations President Erdogan on your re-election. I look forward to continuing our cooperation and preparing for the NATO summit in July.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: “I congratulate Erdogan on winning the election. I look forward to continuing to build EU-Türkiye relations. It is strategically important for the European Union and Turkey to work to advance this relationship, in the interests of our peoples.”
Erdogan achieved an unprecedented feat on Sunday, winning Turkey’s second round of presidential elections and extending his rule into a third decade.
Under his leadership, tensions increased dramatically between Turkey on the one hand and the US, European Union and NATO on the other. Erdogan has increasingly in recent years adopted a more assertive foreign policy aimed at increasing Turkey’s influence in his region and beyond.
