Erdogan wins five more years as Turkey's president

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

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.

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.”

“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 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.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

“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.

ReutersCopyright: 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."

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".

Earlier, we reported on incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan greeting supporters in his home city of Istanbul.

The 69-year-old thanked many as they waved flags below.

Erdogan even burst into song for them - have a listen!

While we wait for Recep Tayyip Erdogan to speak, we can bring you more international reaction, this time from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Zelensky says he counts on "strengthening" ties between Ukraine and Turkey.

Writing on Twitter, Zelensky says: "We hope to develop our co-operation for the security and stability of Europe and further strengthen our strategic partnership for the benefit of our countries."

Turkey has tried to position itself as a peace broker between Russia and Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Earlier, Vladimir Putin also sent warm congratulations to the Turkish leader.

After voting closed but before his defeat was confirmed, Kemal Kilicdaroglu spoke to supporters in Ankara...

Growing up at a time of chronic political turbulence in Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan joined an Islamist party, becoming hugely popular as mayor of Istanbul.

In the 1990s, Turkish politics was bitterly divided on the question of religion and politics, so when the party Erdogan belonged to was shut down, Erdogan was jailed and banned from being an MP for life.

But in prison, Erdogan plotted an astonishing comeback, creating a new, more moderate party which swept him to power...

• Watch this detailed lookback at Erdogan's life on BBC iPlayer

BBCCopyright: BBC

President Erdogan has now arrived in the capital, Ankara, where he is expected to make a victory speech at the presidential palace.

As his supporters wait for him under the palace balcony, behind the fences in front of the palace, some people have been carried away with the help of police because they fainted.

And a presidential palace worker announces on the microphone that there are a number of children lost and call for people to help find them in the crowds.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, a former commander in the Ottoman army, founded the modern Republic of Turkey in 1923 based on a strict secular rule, a difficult task for a traditionally conservative society.

Since then, the army has toppled four different governments which they saw as a threat to secularism.

For decades, the conservative portion of the country, devoted to Islamic values, felt a strong sense of oppression from the state.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who himself went to jail for threatening the secular state in 1999, has very slowly changed this strict secular rule since he came to power in 2003.

And he has gained something like unconditional support from the conservative sections of society.

As he strengthened his position, he imposed more religious laws, as well as granting himself more authority.

He was first prime minister, then became president in 2014, reacting to a failed 2016 coup by dramatically increasing his powers.

We now have more international reaction from world leaders, this time from French President Emmanuel Macron.

He tweets: "There are great challenges that France and Turkey have to face together.

"The return of peace to Europe, the future of our Euro-Atlantic alliance, the Mediterranean sea.

"With President Erdogan, whom I congratulate on his re-election, we will continue to move forward."