JAKARTA - President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will again extend his term of office for the next five years, after successfully winning the second round of the Turkish Presidential Election on Sunday.
The official results of the voting showed that Erdogan pocketed 52.1 percent of the vote. Meanwhile, his competitor Kemal Kilicdaroglu earned 47.9 percent of the vote.
"I would like to thank every citizen who has once again given us the responsibility to rule this country for the next five years with the choices they have made. We will Inshallah be worthy of your trust, as we have been for 21 last years," President Erdogan told his supporters after the election, citing the Turkish Presidency website.
"We have said, we will win in such a way that no one will lose. Therefore, the only winner today is Turkey. All of us have together paved the way to the Turkish Century without any concessions from democracy, development and targets -our target," he continued, emphasizing that the winners of the May 14 and May 28 elections were all the Turkish people, numbering 85 million.
The election has been seen as one of the most important for Turkey, with the opposition believing it has a strong chance of defeating Erdogan, reversing his policies after his popularity was hit by a cost of living crisis.
On the contrary, this victory strengthened Erdogan's image of invincibility, after he changed domestic, economic, security and foreign policies in the NATO member country of 85 million people.
The prospect of another five years in office is a major blow to opponents who accuse him of undermining democracy as he amass more power. The allegations Erdogan denies.
Erdogan's performance has misled opponents, thinking voters will punish him for the country's initially slow response to a devastating earthquake in February, which killed more than 50.000 people.
But in the first round of voting on May 14, including parliamentary elections, his AK Party emerged in 10 of the 11 earthquake-hit provinces, helping him secure a parliamentary majority along with his allies.
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Separately, Kilicdaroglu, who has vowed to set the country on a more democratic and collaborative path, said the vote demonstrated the people's desire to change to an authoritarian government.
According to Reuters on May 29, Kilicdaroglu called the election "the most unfair in years" but did not dispute the result.
"All state facilities are placed at the feet of one person," he criticized.
President Erdogan's victory extended his longest tenure as leader since Mustafa Kemal Ataturk founded modern Turkey from the ruins of the Ottoman Empire a century ago.
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