Erdogan wins five more years as Turkey's president

1. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has won another five years in power in Turkey's election
2. Officials say he won 52.16% of the votes in a near-complete count
3. His secular rival, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, says the election was unfair
4. Erdogan became Turkish prime minister in 2003 and president in 2014
5. In a victory speech to thousands of supporters in Ankara, he said: "Turkey has won", and ridiculed his opponent
6. Erdogan's supporters celebrated on the streets well into the night and foreign leaders sent congratulations

We're pausing our coverage

It's just after 1am in London, and 3am in Turkey, so we're going to pause our coverage of President Erdogan's re-election.

This page will restart in a few hours' time so come back for more reaction and analysis.

The editors in London were Owen Amos, Alexandra Fouché and Robert Corp, the writers were Dulcie Lee, Michael Shiels Mcnamee and Thomas Mackintosh, and our video producers were Serene Khalifeh and Gem O'Reilly.

In Turkey, our team was Paul Kirby, Ece Goksedef and Orla Guerin in Ankara, with Anna Foster in Istanbul.

Thanks for reading.

From prison to the palace - Erdogan's political career

Getty Images

Erdogan as prime minister in August 2005

• After serving as mayor of Istanbul in the 1990s, Erdogan's party was banned and he was jailed for four months
• After prison, Erdogan began an astonishing comeback, creating a new party - AKP - and in 2003 he became prime minister

• In 2014, Erdogan won Turkey's first direct presidential election. He pledged to bolster the power of the president and promised supporters a "social reconciliation period"
• But in 2016, there was an attempted coup attempt by a section of the military
• The coup failed and Erodgan used emergency powers to crack down even harder on dissent and increase his power
• In May 2023, Erdogan beat Kemal Kilicdaroglu to be re-elected Turkish president, extending his time in charge of Turkey beyond 20 years

Watch: Erdogan addresses crowds in Ankara

We brought you a clip earlier from Erdogan's first victory speech in Istanbul.

Here he is addressing masses of supporters in Ankara, after victory was confirmed.

Erdogan speech: 'Today nobody has lost'

How the night unfolded

• Polls closed at 15:00 BST / 17:00 in Turkey. As the first results emerged, the outcome appeared to be closer than predicted
• Just before 17:30 BST, Turkey's Supreme Election Council said Erdogan was just ahead with more than half of the ballot boxes counted
• Around the same time, Hungary's PM Viktor Orban and Qatari Emir Tamim Bin Hamad were the first leaders to publicly congratulate Erdogan on his victory - although nothing was confirmed
• Before 18:30, Erdogan addressed supporters outside the AK Party headquarters in Istanbul, and even burst into song
• Around 20:45, the Supreme Election Council confirmed Erdogan's election run-off victory
• Just over an hour later in Ankara at the Presidential Palace, Erdogan told jubilant supporters he would "build the century of Turkey"

Erdogan: Turkey is the only winner today

The latest figures

When election officials confirmed Erdogan as the winner on Sunday evening, he had 52.14% of the vote.

A few hours later, with 99.85% of ballot boxes opened, that proportion has increased very slightly.

Erdogan now has 52.16% of the vote. That's equal to just over 27.7m votes.

Erdogan supporters dance the night away

We've just received this video from our reporter Ece Goksedef, who's heading back to her hotel in Ankara after watching President Erdogan's victory speech...

Erdogan supporters dance the night away

Middle East tourists welcome Erdogan's re-election

Cagil Kasapoglu

BBC Turkish, reporting from Istanbul

Crowds gathered in Taksim Square in Istanbul after President Erdogan declared his victory.

Among those who celebrated Erdogan’s third term in power were many tourists too, mostly from the Middle East and Gulf countries.

Palestinian visitors living in Jordan paraded with Turkish flags over their shoulders, while some others from Oman, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia expressed their admiration for Erdogan “as one of the world’s best leaders”.

BBC

Alaa Nassar

“He made a lot of improvements to his country,” said Alaa Nassar visiting Istanbul fromTunisia. “He is also supporting Arabs and the Islam world,” she added.

Her mother joined in the conversation: “Yesterday I prayed for him to win,” she said.

Suheila from Morrocco was taking selfies with Erdogan’s supporters at Taksim Square when we approached her: “I am so happy, because he won,” she told us.

A family from Kosovo was also equally joyous. “I think it’s very good. Erdogan is our friend,” İsen from Kosovo said.

Golshah from Iran was also happy for Erdogan's victory: "He is very brave. There are lots of good things about him, congratulations."

BBC

Erdogan receives congratulations from Egypt's Sisi

Ece Göksedef

Live reporter in Ankara

One of Recep Tayyip Erdogan's biggest rivals in the region, Abdul Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt, has congratulated him on his victory.

Since Erdogan said Sisi’s rule was not legitimate after the 2013 coup in Egypt, the two countries almost cut diplomatic ties.

Only since 2020 have officials of both countries started communicating to ease the tension - giving the Egyptian leader's words extra significance for Erdogan.

In pictures: Erdogan's Ankara victory speech

Reuters

Erdogan claimed more than 300,000 came to see him speak

Reuters

The president with his wife, Emine

Reuters

Supporters at the presidential palace in Ankara

Erdogan will remain big player on world stage

Paul Kirby

Europe digital editor in Ankara

Turkey's president is all-powerful at home, but he enjoys a big role internationally too, looking increasingly to the east while remaining a member of the West's Nato defensive alliance.

The leaders of Russia and Ukraine have been quick to congratulate him on his election victory, because Erdogan has sought a mediating role in the war and was heavily involved in enabling grain exports to resume through the Black Sea last year.

He has been a difficult Nato ally at times - standing in the way of Sweden joining, accusing Stockholm of harbouring Kurdish militants. It's no wonder Swedish PM Ulf Kristersson congratulated Erdogan by saying "our common security is a future priority".

His decision to buy a Russian missile defence system has ruffled feathers with his Nato allies too.

It's a measure of his importance that he has been congratulated by the UK, France and the EU as well as across the Middle East. But it is at home that he will find divisions hardest to heal after a bruising election campaign and a severe economic crisis.

Biden and Sunak highlight Nato bonds with Turkey

Earlier, US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak became the latest world leaders to congratulate Erdogan.

"I look forward to continuing to work together as Nato allies on bilateral issues and shared global challenges," Biden wrote on Twitter.

Sunak voiced a similar message: "I look forward to continuing the strong collaboration between our countries, from growing trade to tackling security threats as Nato allies," he tweeted.

Opposition member killed in armed attack

Berza Simsek

BBC Turkish

Good Party member and polling station clerk Erhan Kurt has been killed following an attack in front of one of the party's local branches in the Black Sea’s coastal city of Ordu, the Good Party has said.

The reason for the attack is unclear, but a vice-president from the main opposition CHP, Seyit Tosun, says Kurt was “stabbed by youngsters celebrating the election results”.

Good Party’s Secretary General Ugur Poyraz said the attack was the result of the “polarising rhetoric”.

The nationalist party was one of the six opposition parties which united under the National Alliance against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s People's Alliance.

Critics have long been accusing Erdogan of hate speech against his opponents and of polarising the nation.

Erdogan hopes for Ottoman-style 'turning point'

Reuters

Recep Tayyip Erdogan with wife Emine at his victory speech in Ankara

Monday is the 570th year of conquest of Istanbul by the Ottoman Empire, says Erdogan.

"That was a turning point in history, closed a century and opened a new one," he tells the crowd.

"I hope these elections will be such a turning point in history.”

Finally, he finishes with a poem, and ends his victory speech.

Qatar deal will help more Syrians return - Erdogan

Erdogan also promises to get more Syrians - millions of whom have crossed into Turkey - back to their home country.

"We made a deal with Qatar for a new project in Syria," he tells the crowd.

"With this project we will build new homes there and another million Syrians will be able to go back and live there.”

Time to work, says Erdogan

Ece Göksedef

Live reporter in Ankara

“Now it’s time to work," Erdogan tells his masses of supporters in Ankara.

"Our priority will be to rebuild the cities that collapsed in the earthquakes of 6 February, and to help people find better lives."

He also pledges to cut inflation.

Erdogan promises not to free former pro-Kurdish party leader Demirtas

Ece Göksedef

Live reporter in Ankara

Erdogan also criticises Kilicdaroglu for allegedly promising to free ex-HDP head Selahattin Demirtas from jail.

“Under our rule, such a thing will never happen," he says.

He also calls Demirtas, who has been in jail since 2016, a “terrorist”.

HDP is a pro-Kurdish political party who declared support for Kilicdaroglu in the elections.

Erdogan takes aim at opposition

Ece Göksedef

Live reporter in Ankara

Reuters

Supporters of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan watch his address on a screen in Istanbul

“This is time to unite and get together,” Erdogan tells supporters at the palace.

He then says the CHP opposition party won 146 MPs in the 2018 elections, before going up to 169 in the recent parliamentary elections.

But, he claims, they are not more powerful, because they are part of an alliance.

"He [the opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu] gave some of the seats to the other parties in his alliance and it went down to 129. Is 129 bigger than 146?” he asks.

Erdogan promises to 'build the century of Turkey'

Ece Göksedef

Live reporter in Ankara

Reuters

Erdogan says that 320,000 people are at the palace.

“You gave this duty to us again, we will build the century of Turkey together," he tells the crowd.

This year, Turkey will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the modern Turkish Republic.

Erdogan continues: “In one of the most important elections in Turkish history, our nation chose the century of Turkey.

"They already chose our party as the majority party in the parliament. It is not just us who won, Turkey won."

BreakingErdogan begins with a song in Ankara

Ece Göksedef

Live reporter in Ankara

Turkey's newly re-elected president is now addressing supporters from his palace in Ankara.

As he did earlier in Istanbul, he starts with a song.

As for his speech, he begins with: “We love Turkey so much."

German and Brazilian leaders keen to work with Erdogan

As Erdogan prepares to speak in Ankara, congratulations continue to pour in from around the world.

In a tweet, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz described Germany and Turkey as "close partners and allies" whose "people and economies are deeply intertwined".

Meanwhile, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva wished Erdogan a "good term with a lot of work".