Turkey’s longtime leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, took the oath of office, ushering in his third presidential term that followed three stints as prime minister.
Mr Erdogan, 69, won a new five-year term in a runoff presidential race last week that could stretch his 20-year rule in the key Nato country that straddles Europe and Asia into a quarter-century.
The country of 85 million controls Nato’s second-largest army, hosts millions of refugees and played a crucial role in brokering a deal that allowed the shipment of Ukraine grain across the Black Sea, averting a global food crisis.
The republic will be celebrating its centennial in October, and so presiding over a new ‘Turkish century’ became an important campaign slogan for Mr Erdogan.
During his inauguration ceremony at the presidential palace on Saturday, he hailed ‘the start of the Turkish century, a new period of glory for our country’.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, accompanied by his wife Emine Erdogan, greets participants during his inauguration ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Ankara
Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay (second from left) and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev (second from right) attend Erdogan’s inauguration ceremony
‘I invite all 81 provinces to come together in fraternity.Let us leave behind the resentments of the campaign.
‘Let us find a way to make up for hurt feelings. Let’s all work together to build the Turkish century,’ he said.