Obama congratulates Erdoğan on phone

ANKARA

Erdoğan's chief adviser Mustafa Varank shared a photo on his Twitter account on Aug 12, saying it was 'a shot from the Erdoğan-Obama conversation.'

U.S. President Barack Obama has called Turkey’s president-elect, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, to congratulate him for his latest poll victory.

Obama called Erdoğan on the evening of Aug. 12, establishing the first contact in recent months. Erdoğan had earlier complained on a television program that he had not been able to speak to Obama "for a long time."

While a White House spokesman said further details of the call would be provided later, a statement from the Turkish Prime Minister's Office said Obama congratulated Erdoğan and wished him success as Turkey's president.

"Obama said that he appreciated the speech Erdoğan made on Sunday night and noted that he now had a historic opportunity to move Turkey forward as the country's first president elected by popular vote," the statement said, while adding that the two leaders also discussed regional issues, including Iraq, Syria and Gaza.

The White House had announced Aug. 10 that Obama was expected to speak with Erdoğan in the coming days.

“President [Barack] Obama looks forward to working with Prime Minister Erdoğan in his new role and with whomever succeeds him as the next prime minister,” White House national security spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said in response to an Anadolu Agency correspondent’s question.

Erdoğan was elected Aug. 10 by an absolute majority, securing 51.79 percent of the vote, according to unofficial counts. Without giving the exact numbers, the Supreme Election Board (YSK) confirmed late Aug. 10 that Erdoğan had won outright, making a scheduled Aug. 24 run-off election unnecessary.