Umar Rehman Malik greets Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on re-election

Abdullah Jan

Islamabad: Prominent financial expert Umar Rehman Malik this week greeted Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on his re-election.

“Congratulations to H.E @RTErdogan on his election as President. Best wishes happiness, peace and prosperity for the people of Republic of Türkiye. Bilateral brotherly relations between Pakistan and Turkiye will continue to be strengthened under President @RTErdogan’s able leadership,” he tweeted.

Earlier, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan took the oath of office for a new presidential term after winning re-election last weekend, extending his rule into a third decade.

Turkiye’s longest-serving leader, Erdogan won 52.2% support in a May 28 runoff vote. His election victory defied most opinion polls and came despite a cost-of-living crisis that was seen to have hurt his prospects.

Erdogan, 69, became prime minister in 2003 after his AK Party won an election in late 2002 following Turkiye’s worst economic crisis since the 1970s.

In 2014, he became the country’s first popularly elected president and was elected again in 2018 after securing new executive powers for the presidency in a 2017 referendum.

The May 14 presidential election and May 28 runoff were pivotal given that the opposition had been confident of ousting Erdogan and reversing many of his policies, including proposing sharp interest rate hikes to counter inflation, running at 44% in April.

In his post-election victory speech, Erdogan said inflation, which hit a 24-year peak of 85% last year before easing, was Turkiye’s most urgent issue.