“It is time to put aside the disputes of the electoral campaign and to achieve unity and solidarity around the dreams of our nation”, declared Recep Tayyip Erdogan re-elected Sunday for five years at the head of Turkey.
The indestructible Recep Tayyip Erdogan, confirmed Sunday for five more years at the head of Turkey, called on his country to “solidarity and unity” in the face of the challenges that await it.
Perched on a bus in front of his home in Istanbul, on the Asian side of the Bosphorus, the 69-year-old president, including 20 in power, had claimed victory in the early evening in front of a sea of red flags waved by an enthusiastic crowd.
“Our nation has entrusted us with the responsibility of governing the country for the next five years,” he said after an election that forced him to a second round for the first time.
Back in Ankara in the middle of the night, celebrated as a rock star by a crowd of tens of thousands of supporters who had been waiting for him for hours in front of the presidential palace, the head of state did not fail to boo his unfortunate adversary, Kemal Kilicdaroglu.
“Turkey won!”
Before estimating that it “is time to put aside the disputes of the electoral campaign and to achieve unity and solidarity around the dreams of our nation”.
“Turkey has won!”, he launched between two giant portraits projected on the monumental facade: his own and that of his most illustrious predecessor, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Republic which celebrates its hundredth anniversary this year. .
According to the results covering more than 99.85% of the ballots, the Head of State won 52.16% of the vote against 47.84% for the Social Democratic candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu who, at 74, lost the bet of the “peaceful democracy” he promised. The Turkish Electoral Commission (YSK) confirmed Erdogan’s victory in the evening and will publish the final results at the beginning of the week.
In the evening, spontaneous gatherings formed around the headquarters of his AKP party in Istanbul, the streets of which resound with the blast of horns and a considerable crowd gathered in front of the presidential palace in Ankara to wait for him.
Scenes of jubilation took place across the country as well as in several major European cities, including Berlin, where a large Turkish community lives.
Source: BFM TV
