News - Middle East: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has declared victory in a historic runoff election, thanking Turkish voters for giving him a mandate to govern the country for the next five years.

Speaking from atop a bus in his home district in Istanbul on Sunday evening, Erdogan thanked the Turkish nation for voting and said he won the runoff vote against challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu with their support.

"The only winner is Turkey," he said.

"We will be ruling the country for the coming five years," Erdogan told his supporters. "God willing, we will be deserving of your trust."

The runoff was held after both Erdogan and Kilicdaroglu failed to secure more than 50 percent of the votes required for an outright victory in the first round on May 14.

With almost 100 percent of the votes counted on Sunday evening, Erdogan was the winner with more than 52 percent of the votes, while Kilicdaroglu received nearly 48 percent of the votes. 

State-run Anadolu agency reported that the voter turnout was at about 85 percent.

These are unofficial results. Turkey's Supreme Election Council will publish the official result later on. 

Earlier in the day, Erdogan asked his supporters “to stay at the ballot boxes until results are finalized.”

“Now is the time to protect the will of the people which we hold in the highest esteem,” Erdogan wrote on his Twitter account.

Kilicdaroglu expresses ‘real sadness’ 

Meanwhile, Kilicdaroglu expressed "real sadness" about the country's future, after Erdogan declared victory.

"My real sadness is about the difficulties awaiting the country," he said in his first public remarks after the election.

He called the election process the most unfair in years.

“All the means of the state were mobilized for one political party and laid at the feet of one man,” the CHP leader said.

He added, “I would like to thank the heads of the Nation Alliance, their organizations, our voters, and the citizens who protected the ballot boxes and fought against these immoral and unlawful pressures.”

“As a person of this land, I have always fought for your rights and justice, so that no one oppresses you, so that you can live in abundance, and I will continue to do so,” Kilicdaroglu also said.

 IYI Party leader congratulates Erdogan

Turkey’s opposition nationalist IYI Party leader Meral Aksener congratulated Erdogan for his victory but said she would continue on her path as the opposition.

Speaking in Ankara, Aksener said the results showed that there is a big lesson Erdogan needs to learn, adding that she hopes he acts like the president of all Turks.

She expressed disappointment in Erdogan’s victory speech in Istanbul in which he criticized Kilicdaroglu.

Erdogan's supporters gathered at his Istanbul residence in anticipation of victory, chanting Allahu Akbar, or God is Greatest.

"I expect everything to become better," said Nisa, 28, a headscarved woman wearing a headband with Erdogan's name.


Source: Press TV