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<\/div>\nTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared victory in a historic runoff election. (File)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Istanbul, Turkey: <\/b><\/p>\n
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appealed for national unity Monday after winning a historic runoff election that extended two decades of his transformative but divisive rule until 2028.<\/p>\n
The 69-year-old overcame Turkey’s worst economic crisis in a generation and the most powerful opposition alliance to ever face his Islamic-rooted party on his way to his toughest election win.<\/p>\n
Streets erupted in car-honking jubilation and tributes poured in from across the world as Turkey’s most important leader in modern history led a sea of supporters in celebratory song outside his presidential palace in Ankara.<\/p>\n
“We should come together in unity and solidarity,” Erdogan told the chanting and flag-waving crowd.<\/p>\n
“We call for this with all our heart.”<\/p>\n
Near-complete results showed Erdogan beating secular opposition challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu by four percentage points.<\/p>\n
“I look forward to continuing to work together as NATO Allies on bilateral issues and shared global challenges,” US President Joe Biden tweeted as Erdogan spoke.<\/p>\n
UN chief Antonio Guterres said through a spokesman that he “looks forward to further strengthening the cooperation between Turkiye and the United Nations”, using an alternate spelling for Turkey.<\/p>\n
Russia’s Vladimir Putin said the outcome showed the support for Erdogan’s “efforts to strengthen state sovereignty and pursue an independent foreign policy”.<\/p>\n
Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky said he wanted to keep working with Erdogan “for the security and stability of Europe”.<\/p>\n
Leaders across Europe and the Arab world also sent their congratulations — as did former US president Donald Trump.<\/p>\n
Traffic on Istanbul’s iconic Taksim Square ground to a halt and huge crowds of singing and flag-waving supporters gathered across Turkey.<\/p>\n
“Our people chose the right man,” 17-year-old Nisa Sivaslioglu said in the Turkish capital.<\/p>\n
“I expect Erdogan to add more to the good things he has already done for our country.”<\/p>\n
Longest-serving leader<\/strong><\/p>\n Turkey’s longest-serving leader was tested like never before in what was widely seen as the country’s most consequential election in its 100-year history as a post-Ottoman republic.<\/p>\n Kilicdaroglu pushed Erdogan into Turkey’s first runoff on May 14 and narrowed the margin further in the second round.<\/p>\n Opposition supporters viewed it as a do-or-die chance to save Turkey from being turned into an autocracy by a man whose consolidation of power rivals that of Ottoman sultans.<\/p>\n Kilicdaroglu’s brief concession statement expressed “real sadness about the big difficulties awaiting the country” with Erdogan.<\/p>\n The opposition leader had re-emerged a transformed man after the first round.<\/p>\n The 74-year-old former civil servant’s message of social unity and freedoms gave way to desk-thumping speeches about the need to immediately expel migrants and fight terrorism.<\/p>\n His right-wing turn was targeted at nationalists who emerged as the big winners of the parallel parliamentary elections.<\/p>\n Analysts doubted Kilicdaroglu’s gamble would work.<\/p>\n His informal alliance with a pro-Kurdish party, which Erdogan portrays as the political wing of banned militants, left him exposed to charges of working with “terrorists”.<\/p>\n And Kilicdaroglu’s courtship of Turkey’s hard right was hampered by the endorsement Erdogan received from an ultra-nationalist who finished third two weeks ago.<\/p>\n “Erdogan played the nationalist card quite skilfully,” Chatham House associate fellow Galip Dalay told AFP.<\/p>\n “The opposition could not come out with an alternative agenda item that could overshadow (Erdogan’s) narrative, despite the fact that Turkey is experiencing a very bad economic situation.”<\/p>\n Champion of poor<\/strong><\/p>\n Erdogan is lionised by poorer and more rural swathes of Turkey’s fractured society because of his promotion of religious freedoms and modernisation of once-dilapidated cities in the Anatolian heartland.<\/p>\n But he has caused growing consternation across the Western world because of his crackdowns on dissent and pursuit of a muscular foreign policy.<\/p>\n He launched military incursions into Syria that infuriated European powers and put Turkish soldiers on the opposite side of Kurdish forces supported by the United States.<\/p>\n His personal relationship with Putin has also survived the Kremlin’s war on Ukraine.<\/p>\n Turkey’s troubled economy is benefiting from a crucial deferment of payment on Russian energy imports that helped Erdogan spend lavishly on campaign pledges this year.<\/p>\n Erdogan also delayed Finland’s membership of NATO and is still refusing to let Sweden join the US-led defence bloc.<\/p>\n ‘Day of reckoning’<\/strong><\/p>\n Turkey’s unravelling economy will pose the most immediate test for Erdogan.<\/p>\n He went through a series of central bankers to find one who would enact his wish to slash interest rates at all costs in 2021.<\/p>\n Turkey’s currency soon entered freefall and the annual inflation rate touched 85 percent last year.<\/p>\n Erdogan has promised to continue these policies and rejected analysts’ predictions of economic peril.<\/p>\n Turkey burned through tens of billions of dollars trying to support the lira from politically sensitive falls ahead of the vote.<\/p>\n Many analysts say Turkey must now hike interest rates or abandon its attempts to support the lira.<\/p>\n “The day of reckoning for Turkey’s economy and financial markets may now just be around the corner,” analysts at Capital Economics warned.<\/p>\n (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n