Biden goes with “whoever wins” Turkish presidential election
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – US President Joe Biden revealed on Monday his stance regarding the Turkish elections, saying “whoever wins wins” as Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan seems leading the election for a runoff to take place on May 28.
In a report publicized by Politico Biden was cited as saying on Sunday, “I just hope…whoever wins wins…There’s enough problems in that part of the world right now.”
On May 14, Turkey headed to the first run vote with both rivals Erdogan and main opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu failing to hit 50 percent threshold to win, forcing them into a runoff on May 28.
Biden’s comments come as a stark contrast to a previous stance during his 2020 campaign, where he openly criticized Erdogan as an “autocrat” and expressed support for his opponents.
“What I think we should be doing is taking a very different approach to him now, making it clear that we support opposition leadership,” Biden said then.
National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said, “The Turkish people get to decide what their government looks like.”