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Elnur Enveroglu

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Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday took the oath of office to become Türkiye's 12th president after his splendid victory in the presidential runoff on 28 May. Following the sworn-in ceremony at the parliament, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Anitkabir, the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Turkish Republic.

On Saturday, the presidential complex hosted an inauguration ceremony, which was attended by high-level officials from 78 countries, including 21 heads of state, 13 prime ministers, parliamentary and ministerial-level officials, and representatives of international organizations, including NATO, the Organization of Turkic States, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

It is very significant to note that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his spouse First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva were among other heads of states and governments, including Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus President Ersin Tatar, Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and others.

The next victory of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is actually the victory and successful future of the entire Turkic world. A brief look at Turkiye's domestic and foreign policy under Erdogan's rule so far is enough to know what changes will happen in the next 5 years.

In fact, Erdogan, who raised the honor and name of Turkiye and fought great battles in the world of politics, started his political career in the 1970s and 80s. During those times, Erdogan joined the Welfare-Party founded by Necmettin Erbakan, an influential person in Turkiye's political life. Later, that party, which gained popularity in the 90s, led Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the position of the mayor of Istanbul in 1994 and remained at the head of the position for four years. However, Erdogan was subjected to serious internal pressures hard on the heels of his reading a piece of poetry: "The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers." These verses even led him to serving four months in jail.

Finally, in 2002, the new party founded by President Erdogan won a majority in parliamentary elections, paving the way for him to become the Prime Minister.

Starting from 2003, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been able to maintain the position of Prime Minister three times in a row. One of the main reasons for this was the great leap in Turkiye's economy and the steady increase in people's welfare during Erdogan's prime ministership. Turkiye was experiencing a period of renaissance at that time, and the country's reputation was growing rapidly.

Despite this, Erdogan's opponents were very jealous, stubborn and ruthless. Despite repeated slanders and provocations against him, Erdogan could easily overcome all these difficulties thanks to his pragmatic policy.

President Erdogan's coming to power also gave a great impetus to the awakening of Islam and the Turkic world. President Erdogan is the main initiator of the One Belt, One Road mega project extending to China. He is making great efforts to bring together all the Turkic-speaking countries and take a step that leaves a deep mark on the revival of our thousand-year-old cultural heritage. It is not a secret that the solution of Azerbaijan's Karabakh issue, which has been under Armenian occupation for 30 years, and besides that, the glorious victory of Azerbaijan is a sign of Turkiye's brotherly and friendly relationship. Today, the opening of the Zangazur corridor, which is considered the main artery of economic revival, is as much under focus of Turkiye as of Azerbaijan. These interests are based on both mutual and fraternal relations, and it is especially important to note that President Erdogan was first congratulated by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on May 28, just before his victory was fully announced in the presidential runoff. Azerbaijan always stands by Turkiye, and the presence of President Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva in the swearing-in ceremony was distinguished by its special feature.

Thus, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who came through the tribulations of the great political war and raised Turkiye to the highest level in the world, was once again elected by the votes of the people and became the 12th leader of the Republic of Turkiye once again.

Today, the whole Islamic world imagines Erdogan as a religious conservative. It is known that with his coming to power, the problem of headscarves, which was once prohibited in government circles, is eliminated. Even though his political opponents claimed that Erdogan would destroy the principles of the secular state established and inherited by Ataturk, this was never the case. On the contrary, President Erdogan introduced real democracy to both Turkish society and the entire world, unprecedented in history.

Indeed, the elections held in May 2023 showed the world a picture of true democracy.

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Elnur Enveroglu is AzerNews’ deputy editor-in-chief, follow him on @ElnurMammadli1

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