Erdoğan congratulates Azerbaijan's Aliyev on re-election win
ANKARA
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has extended his congratulations to his Azeri counterpart, İlham Aliyev, on securing a fifth consecutive term in the presidential election.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry also conveyed its wishes for the election results to be beneficial for Azerbaijan.
In a phone call to Aliyev, the Turkish leader conveyed his hopes for the reelection to be beneficial for Azerbaijan, as reported by his office.
Similarly, Türkiye's Foreign Ministry expressed optimism for the outcome of the elections, stating it wished for the results to be "auspicious for brotherly Azerbaijan."
"We are pleased that the elections took place peacefully in all regions of Azerbaijan, including those liberated from occupation," read the statement. "We appreciate the prudence demonstrated by the people of Azerbaijan during the electoral process."
Tallies showed that Aliyev won the election with 92 percent of the vote after nearly all electoral precincts declared results.
"The Azerbaijani people have elected Ilham Aliyev as the country's president," Central Election Commission chief Mazahir Panahov told a press conference.
Turnout was 67.7 percent, he added.
Singing patriotic songs, several thousand Aliyev supporters gathered on Wednesday evening in the streets of central Baku to celebrate his re-election.
Some demonstrators held signs that read "Karabakh's liberator" and "We are proud of you!"
The president and first lady Mehriban Aliyeva went to Karabakh on Wednesday to cast their ballots in the region's main city of Khankendi.
For the first time in Azerbaijan's post-Soviet history, 26 polling stations opened in Karabakh.
Last month, Aliyev called the Karabakh victory "an epochal event unparallelled in Azerbaijan's history."
"The election will mark the beginning of a new era," he said, with the country holding the presidential vote on all its territory for the first time.
Supporters have praised Aliyev for turning a country once thought of as a Soviet backwater into a flourishing energy supplier to Europe.
Aliyev, 62, was first elected president in 2003 after the death of his father, Heydar Aliyev, a former KGB officer who had ruled Azerbaijan since 1993.
He was re-elected in 2008, 2013, and 2018 with 86 percent of the votes.
Around six million voters were registered for the election, which was being monitored by observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
