Diyar Guldogan
30 May 2023•Update: 30 May 2023
ANKARA
Türkiye's 85 million citizens and the country's democracy have won, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday after he was reelected the president in Sunday's runoff polls.
"Turkish democracy and Turkish nation won the election marathon," Erdogan told the 79th general assembly of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye in the capital Ankara.
On May 28, Türkiye went to the polls for the presidential runoff election after no candidate crossed the 50% threshold needed for an outright victory in the first round on May 14.
Erdogan won the race with 52.14% of the vote, while opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu got 47.86%, according to the unofficial results.
"Every citizen who trusts the national will, dreams for our country, and feels that they belong to this land is the undisputed winner of this election," Erdogan said.
Türkiye successfully completed "one of the most important" election processes in its history, Erdogan said, adding: "We held both elections with a perfection befitting our democracy."
Erdogan said he has received around 110 congratulatory messages on reelection from the world leaders with whom he agrees on further enhancing the relations in every single area.
'Rising star of its region'
Türkiye will take more initiatives for the settlement of crises in its surroundings, and work to restore peace and stability in the region, Erdogan said, adding besides diplomatic ties, Ankara will also strengthen its economic and trade relations with the countries of the region.
"Our goal is to establish a belt of peace and security in our environment, stretching from Europe to the Black Sea, Caucasus to the Middle East to North Africa," he added.
Stressing that Türkiye has shared the burden for the solution of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, Erdogan said with the grain shipment and prisoner exchange deals, Türkiye has shown that a diplomatic solution is possible.
"Most importantly, we have prevented Türkiye from becoming a party to a conflict that would end in disaster. In other words, we have worked to boost our cooperation with all countries by keeping one leg of the compass fixed in our country while making a 360-degree maneuver with the other," he added.
Turning to difficulties in acquiring visas for Europe and the US, Erdogan said: "We will settle the visa problem, which has been used as a political blackmail recently, as soon as possible."
Many Turkish citizens face visa problems such as an increased scrutiny of visa applications and months waiting to get an appointment date.
About the steps to compensate for the loss of welfare experienced by some segments of the society, Erdogan said: “We are strictly committed to our policy of not allowing our citizens to be crushed by inflation. We have not made any concessions on this issue throughout our 21 years in power."
He added Türkiye will see the positive ramifications as the fluctuations in the global economy calm down.
"We will make Türkiye the rising star of its region. We will achieve this together as we have done over the past 21 years," Erdogan said.
