donald trump on sunday i was over the moon about the re-election of the strongman turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“Congratulations to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on his great and well-deserved victory in Turkey”, former president wrote in Social Truth. “I know him well, he is a friend and I have learned firsthand how much he loves his country and the great people of Turkey, whom he has elevated to a new level of prominence and respect!”
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Erdogan won a runoff over Kemal Kilicdaroglu, extending “his increasingly authoritarian rule into a third decade as the country reels from high inflation and the aftermath of an earthquake that leveled entire cities,” The Associated Press wrote.
Before the elections, Ersin Kalaycioglu, a professor of political science at Istanbul Sabanci University, told the New York Times voters were faced with the choice of “going down the path of authoritarianism or changing course and going back to democracy”.
Erdogan has squeezed Turkey’s free press and political expression by sanctioning and investigating journalists who criticize his policies. HuffPost previously reported. In one case, Türkiye Media regulator fined broadcasters who questioned the response of the Turkish leader to a recent earthquake which killed tens of thousands.
Trump, who is now the leading Republican candidate for 2024, once praised Erdogan as a “one hell of a leader.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin shared Trump’s enthusiasm, calling Erdogan’s victory on Sunday “a natural result of his selfless work as the leader of the Republic of Turkey.” Mediaite pointed.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden took a more moderate approach: “I look forward to continuing to work together as NATO allies on bilateral issues and shared global challenges,” he said, by Reuters.
