Pretoria – South Africa has joined other leading nations in congratulating the President of Türkiye Tayyip Erdoğan on his re-election.
Erdoğan beat his rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who was leading a coalition of opposition parties, by 6 points in Sunday’s run-off vote.
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The United States, Russia, Ukraine, Britain, Belarus and many other countries have already sent congratulations to 69-year-old Erdoğan on his victory.
On Monday President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is in Nigeria for the inauguration of that country’s new President Bola Tinubu, congratulated Erdoğan following his successful election.
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“Türkiye held its presidential and parliamentary elections on 14 May 2023, followed by a runoff in the presidential election on Sunday, 28 May 2023. President Erdoğan was successfully elected in the run-off,” the SA Presidency said.
President Ramaphosa said South Africa looks forward to working with Türkiye under President Erdoğan to consolidate existing strong relations at the bilateral and multilateral levels.
Formal relations between South Africa and Turkey were established in 1991.
Vincent Magwenya, Spokesperson to President Ramaphosa, said South Africa and Türkiye share common platforms in multilateral forums such as the G20, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and are active participants in the various organs of the United Nations to which both countries belong.