Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s spokesperson has slammed a US congressman who urged on social media no congratulations for Erdoğan’s June 24 election win, the Hürriyet Daily News reported.
“President Erdoğan certainly does not need YOUR @RepAdamSchiff congratulations. Turkish people have spoken up. You need to shut up,” İbrahim Kalın tweeted on Tuesday.
He was responding to a tweet from Democratic Congressman from California Adam Schiff that said: “Erdogan ‘won’ reelection in Turkey this weekend only by decimating the opposition through arrests, violence and squashing freedom of the press. Turkey’s descent into autocracy is another reminder that democracy is under assault worldwide. DO NOT CONGRATULATE.”
Meanwhile, Western leaders on Monday conveyed their compliments to Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on his success in Sunday’s presidential and parliamentary elections, stressing partnership and dialogue on serious issues.
US President Donald Trump congratulated Erdoğan in a phone call on Tuesday, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported, citing Turkey’s presidential press office.
Sources said Erdoğan and Trump confirmed a joint commitment on the development of bilateral cooperation on defense.
Erdoğan won an absolute majority in the presidential poll with 52.5 percent of the vote, while his main rival Muharrem İnce received 30.6 percent.
French President Emmanuel Macron also congratulated Erdoğan on Tuesday, Reuters reported, citing Macron’s office.
“The French president has congratulated Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and wished the Turkish people success in the economic and social development of their country and in the democratic functioning of their institutions,” an Elysée Palace source said.
Macron stressed the importance of a calmer dialogue between Turkey and the European Union, the source added.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel also congratulated Erdoğan on Monday on his electoral victory and stressed that Germany wanted Turkey to be diverse and boost democratic participation, Reuters said, citing a statement from her office.
Merkel said Turkey had shown great responsibility in dealing with upheaval in the Middle East and the resulting migrant flows.
“All the more reason for us to want to be a partner of a stable and pluralistic Turkey in which democratic participation and the protection of the rule of law is strengthened,” she wrote to Erdoğan.
Erdoğan won the election on June 24, becoming the first president under a new executive presidential system of governance that was narrowly passed in a referendum last year. (SCF with turkishminute.com)
