President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will be sworn in as chief of state on Saturday after winning a historic runoff election to extend his two-decade rule for another five years as Turkey’s economic difficulties worsen.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif travelled in Ankara a day early to attend Erdogan’s parliament opening and palace ceremony.
Turkey’s transformative but divisive leader won the May 28 runoff against a powerful opposition coalition despite an economic crisis and severe criticism following a devastating February earthquake that killed more than 50,000 people.
Erdogan won 52.18 percent of the vote, while his secular opponent Kemal Kilicdaroglu received 47.82 percent, according to official results.
Turkey’s longest-serving leader faces major challenges from a faltering economy and Western tensions in his third term.
“From a geopolitical standpoint, the election will strengthen Turkey’s recent pursuit of an independent foreign policy,” said Matt Gertken, BCA Research’s principal geopolitical strategist.
“This policy seeks to extract maximum economic and strategic benefits from eastern and autocratic states while preventing a permanent rupture with western democracies,” he said.
Now that Erdogan has a new mandate, tensions with the West are likely to increase once more within this context.
PM Shehbaz arrives in Ankara
PM Shehbaz arrived late Friday night in Turkey for a two-day visit to attend the inauguration ceremony.
A video shared by the government showed the Turkish foreign ministry and Pakistan’s mission in Turkey greeting the prime minister. He was accompanied by Information and Broadcasting Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb and Special Assistant Tariq Fatemi.
According to Radio Pakistan, the prime minister will also interact with Turkish investors and the Turkish business community.
Before departing for Turkey, Shehbaz stated, “I will convey our sincerest congratulations to the president on his re-election on behalf of the government and people of Pakistan.
“The brotherly ties between Pakistan and Turkey will continue to strengthen by our shared determination and destiny,” he added.
Referring to the upcoming seventh meeting of the High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council in Islamabad. The prime minister stated that it will “provide the right opportunity to advance our strategic partnership.”
The potential of our multifaceted relationship has yet to be realized, but efforts are being made in that regard.
With inflation at 43.70 percent, addressing the country’s economic woes will be Erdogan’s top priority, in part due to his unconventional policy of slashing interest rates to stimulate growth.
The media speculates that former finance minister Mehmet Simsek, a comforting figure with international fame. May be in the president’s new cabinet, which will be announced late Saturday.
Simsek, a former economist at Merrill Lynch, is known to oppose Erdogan’s unconventional policies.
He was finance minister from 2009 to 2015 and economic deputy prime minister until 2018. Resigning before a series of lira crashes that year.
The newly elected Turkish parliamentarians were sworn in on Friday for the first session after the May 14 election.
“What we see now is that the news about Mehmet Simsek and his team is greeted with enthusiasm by the markets,” he told AFP.
The newly elected Turkish parliamentarians were sworn in on Friday for the first session after the May 14 election. Erdogan was also present.
His alliance controls the majority of the 600 seats in the legislature.
Erdogan defeated a unified opposition coalition led by Kilicdaroglu, whose future as CHP leader is uncertain.
