Call for solidarity

Erdogan vows to build ‘Century of Turkiye’ after reelection win

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday congratulated Recep Tayyip Erdogan on his reelection as Turkish president, expressing his readiness to work with Erdogan to promote the sustainable, healthy and stable development of bilateral ties.

In a congratulatory message, Xi said China and Turkiye are both major developing countries and emerging market economies that share broad common interests. The two countries’ strategic cooperative relationship has maintained a momentum of development in recent years, and positive progress has been made in pragmatic cooperation in all fields, he said.

Noting that he highly values developing China’s relations with Turkiye, Xi said he is ready to work with Erdogan to understand and support each other on issues concerning their respective core interests and major concerns.

Turkish Supreme Election Council chairman Ahmet Yener on Sunday evening declared incumbent President Erdogan the winner of the presidential runoff.

Erdogan won 52.14 percent of votes in the presidential runoff against his rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who garnered 47.86 percent of the votes, Yener said.

Heralding the “Century of Turkiye”, Xinhua News Agency quoted him as saying to 320,000 supporters gathered outside the presidential residence in the capital Ankara: “We should come together in unity and solidarity. Nobody has lost today, all 85 million won. Now is the time to unite and integrate around our national goals and national dreams.”

After the four-percentage-point victory margin — the closest in any presidential race Erdogan has been involved in — the nation’s Sabah daily newspaper greeted readers on Monday with the headline “The man of the people won”.

Erdogan promised to immediately get to work on improving the nation’s economy, which has been blighted by inflation running at around 50 percent in recent months. The country’s economic turbulence has led to a cost-of-living crisis and the Turkish lira losing around 80 percent of its value against the United States dollar in the past five years.

“We are planning an economy focused on financial management, investment, and employment,” the BBC quoted Erdogan as saying. “We will continue on the road with confidence and stability.”

Erdogan said Turkiye will create a resurgent manufacturing sector “with an international reputation for financial management, investment, and employment”.

He added that he will also prioritize the rebuilding of parts of the country devastated by massive earthquakes on Feb 6 that left more than 50,000 people dead and tens of thousands homeless.

Turkiye currently houses around 4 million refugees, and the challenge of caring for them amid the country’s economic crisis had been a politically contentious issue during the campaigning.

Major subject

He also acknowledged the importance of managing migration, which became a major subject during the election and a key reason why his challenger, Kilicdaroglu, attracted enough votes to force a second-round runoff.

Erdogan said in his victory speech that around 600,000 Syrians who had fled conflict in their homeland in recent years and who had crossed the border into Turkiye had since returned home. And he noted that a new housing project in northern Syria developed by Turkiye and Qatar will ensure around 1 million more can also return home soon.

In the first round of the presidential election, Erdogan earned 49.52 percent of the votes, while Kilicdaroglu received 44.88 percent.

Neither secured more than 50 percent of the votes needed to call a winner in the first round, therefore an election runoff was held for the first time for the presidency.

The third-place candidate, nationalist politician Sinan Ogan, with 5.17 percent of votes, announced his endorsement for Erdogan in the runoff where only the two most supported were able to race.

In the last two weeks, the two leading candidates focused on appealing to nationalist votes in their campaigns. They both pledged to focus on problems regarding refugee issues and vowed to end terrorism as the May 14 results showed an increase in support for nationalist parties.

Antonio Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations, was among the leaders to congratulate Erdogan after his reelection victory.

US President Joe Biden also heralded the win, writing on Twitter: “I look forward to continuing to work together as NATO allies on bilateral issues and shared global challenges.”

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin told the Turkish leader his win was “the logical result of your dedicated work”, according to the Kremlin website.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron also offered his congratulations, telling Erdogan his nation and Turkiye have “huge challenges to face together”.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he hopes bilateral ties on global issues between the nations will continue to grow, The Associated Press reported.

Erdogan has led Turkiye since 2003; first as prime minister and then in 2018, after a referendum in 2017 changed Turkiye’s constitution, as the country’s first executive president.

He will oversee a parliament in which his Justice and Development Party and its allies have a majority of seats, after performing well in the general election on May 14.