Erdoğan calls for world to respect Turkish election vote for stability

ISTANBUL

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan smiles as he leaves from Eyup Sultan mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, November 2, 2015. Reuters Photo

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made a call on Nov. 2 for the whole world to respect the country’s parliamentary election result, which gave the Justice and Development Party (AKP) he founded nearly 50 percent of the vote. 

Speaking to reporters after praying at a mosque in Istanbul, Erdoğan said Turks had voted for stability on Nov. 1 after the failure of coalition talks following a June vote. 

When a reporter asked about international media reports criticizing his leadership, Erdoğan said, “Why don’t they respect the national will? They haven’t displayed respect since the day when the national will elected Erdoğan as president with 52 percent up to this date. One should ask, ‘Is this your understanding of democracy?’” 

Expressing “gratitude to the nation,” Erdoğan also voiced pleasure over witnessing “democratic maturity” in the elections.

“At the moment, one party has come to power in Turkey with around 50 percent of the vote,” Erdoğan said.

“The entire world needs to respect this. I haven’t seen very much of such respect in the world,” he said.

“The national will has been manifested as of Nov. 1 in favor of stability and those short-term developments told the national will ‘There is no other way than the national will,’ and displayed the making of such a decision,” Erdoğan said, urging the nation to be united in the face of “great plots” that are being set up in the entire country. 

“I always said something; I said ‘one nation,’ ‘one flag,’ ‘one homeland’ and ‘one state.’ These four titles are virtually sine qua non for us. We need to enrich these four titles and respond to those plots via claiming these,” he said.