Erdoğan congratulates Maduro after election win

ANKARA

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has congratulated his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro on winning a new term in office, the Turkish presidency said on May 23.

Erdoğan, along with Russian President Vladimir Putin, is among few world leaders to have congratulated Maduro on his victory in a poll that the United States has denounced as a “sham.”

He phoned Maduro during the night to pass on his congratulations, a Turkish presidential source was quoted as saying by state-run Anadolu Agency.

Erdoğan, who is set to run in elections at home on June 24, also expressed his determination to develop relations between Turkey and Venezuela in all areas, the report added.

On a state visit to Ankara in October, Maduro hailed a “new era” in relations with Turkey, saying both countries believed in a different, multi-polar world.

He was also a surprise non-Muslim guest at a summit of Islamic leaders organized by Erdoğan in December 2017 to denounce the U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Earlier this month, photographs were published on social media of Maduro wearing a medieval hat and a giant ring from the popular Turkish historical television drama Diriliş Ertuğrul (Resurrection Ertuğrul) about the origins of the Ottoman Empire.