Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt congratulate Turkiye’s Erdogan on presidential win

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan addresses his supporters following early exit poll results for the second round of the presidential election in Istanbul. (Reuters)
Short Url
Updated 29 May 2023
Follow

Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt congratulate Turkiye’s Erdogan on presidential win

  • Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi also congratulated Erdogan
  • European leaders sent messages

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman have congratulated Recep Tayyip Erdogan after he was declared the victor in a historic runoff Turkish election.

The 69-year-old leader overcame Turkiye’s biggest economic crisis in generations and a powerful opposition alliance to take an unassailable lead.

The UAE’s President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan also sent a message of congratulations to Erdogan after the declaration.

UAE Vice President and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum sent a similar message to Erdogan, Emirates News Agency reported.

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi also congratulated Erdogan, as did French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Putin said the win was evidence the Turkish people appreciated Erdogan’s independent foreign policy. 

The Kremlin said on Monday that Russia was eyeing “very ambitious goals” in ties with Turkey after Erdogan’s win.

“When it comes to the implementation of joint Russian-Turkish projects there is already a fairly high dynamic. Of course, we expect that the dynamic will continue, because the goals are really very ambitious,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. 

German chancellor Olaf Scholz and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky also sent messages of congraulations. 


Flash floods kill 21 in Moroccan coastal town

Updated 5 sec ago
Follow

Flash floods kill 21 in Moroccan coastal town

RABAT: Flash-flooding caused by sudden, heavy rain killed at least 21 people in the Moroccan coastal town of Safi on Sunday, local authorities said.
Images on social media showed a torrent of muddy water sweeping cars and rubbish bins from the streets in Safi, which sits around 300 kilometers (186 miles) south of the capital Rabat.
At least 70 homes and businesses in the historic old city were flooded, authorities said.
Another 32 people were injured and taken to hospital, but most of them have been discharged.

Damage to roads cut off traffic along several routes to and from the port city on the Atlantic coast.
“It’s a black day,” resident Hamza Chdouani told AFP.
By evening, the water level had receded, leaving people to pick through a mud-sodden landscape to salvage belongings.
Another resident, Marouane Tamer, questioned why government trucks had not been dispatched to pump out the water.
As teams searched for other possible casualties, the weather service forecast more heavy rain on Tuesday across the country.
Severe weather and flooding are not uncommon in Morocco, which is struggling with a severe drought for the seventh consecutive year.
The General Directorate of Meteorology (DGM) said 2024 was Morocco’s hottest year on record, while registering an average rainfall deficit of -24.7 percent.
Moroccan autumns are typically marked by a gradual drop in temperatures, but climate change has affected weather patterns and made storms more intense because a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture and warmer seas can turbocharge the systems.