President Paul Kagame on Friday arrived in Türkiye’s capital Ankara, where he is set to join other leaders tomorrow for the inauguration of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan is scheduled to take the oath of office and start his third presidential term Saturday following his latest election win.The Turkish Supreme Election Council on June 1 officially declared Erdoğan winner of the hotly contested election.
The final results showed that Erdoğan received 52.18% of the votes, whereas opposition leader Kemal Kiliçdaroğlu got 47.82%.
More than 85% of the Turkish electorate turned out to vote on Sunday, higher than the average in many European countries.
Around 52,000,000 votes were cast, putting turnout at 85.71%.
In the 2022 French Presidential Election 74% of the electorate cast votes. Meanwhile, in the 2019 UK General Election 67% of those eligible to vote did so.
The newly-elected Turkish president has said his win is a victory for the country, while urging supporters “to unite and get together”.
Speaking at his palace in Ankara, he told the crowd: “You gave this duty to us again, we will build the century of Turkey together.”
“In one of the most important elections in Turkish history, our nation chose the century of Turkey.”
Turkey will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the modern Turkish Republic this year.
“It is not just us who won, Turkey won,” he added.
In the months ahead of the election, President Erdogan faced criticism for his government’s response to devastating earthquakes and for crushing inflation.
Yet, he still managed to come out ahead in this week’s runoff election, extending his two-decade tenure leading Turkey by another five years. Erdogan will rule until 2028.
Secular rival Kilicdaroglu said the election was “the most unjust ever,” claiming Erdogan had mobilised all state resources and the media he controls against him.
“We will continue to be at the forefront of this struggle until real democracy comes to our country,” he said in Ankara.
“Now that the elections are over, we will allocate all our time and energy to work,” said the Turkish president during a speech to supporters.
“Overcoming the problems arising from inflation is one of our priorities,” he continued. “As the interest rate has come down, inflation will also come down.”
Inflation surged to above 85% last year, hitting Erdogan’s popularity hard.
