Kurdistan PM congratulates Erdogan for electoral victories

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – In a letter to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday, the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region Nechirvan Barzani congratulated him, his Justice and Development Party (AKP), and  "all other winning parties" for the victories they achieved in Sunday’s elections.

“In your reign, the relations between the Republic of Turkey and the Kurdistan Region witnessed a huge development. This had a significant impact on stability and improving the lives of people. It was also a good example in the region,” read the letter.

“We as the Kurdistan Region once again reiterate our eternal desire to continue developing these ties.”

Erdogan emerged victorious on Sunday’s presidential and parliamentary elections, giving him stronger executive powers and extending his grip on the nation of 81 million until at least 2023.

Over 56 million people were registered to vote at 180,000 ballot boxes across the country. Polling began at 8:00 am local time (05:00 GMT) and polls closed at 5:00 pm (14:00 GMT).

It is the first time the presidential and parliamentary elections were held simultaneously, with both ballots placed in a single envelope.

Erdogan took home 52.5 percent of the vote in the presidential race, with more than 99 percent of votes counted. The AKP received 42.5 percent of the popular vote in the parliamentary election, and was empowered by its nationalist allies who stand at 11.1 percent of the vote.

Pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) presidential candidate Selahattin Demirtas, who has been in jail for over 20 months, was forced to campaign from behind bars. The HDP is the target of an almost two-years-long ongoing crackdown that has seen the jailing of eight lawmakers, 80 mayors, and over 5,000 members over alleged ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, a group that, unsurprisingly, has called the election "illegitimate."

On Monday, the European Union refused to congratulate Erdogan on his elections victory, instead stating the conditions for the polls were “not equal.”

“In your reign, many unjust prohibitions were lifted. We hope now once again everybody would help you to achieve peace. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) continuously supports all the efforts to resolve all the issues peacefully,” Barzani added.

The relations between the Kurdistan Region and Turkey have improved considerably over the past decade, namely in the energy and economy sectors after the KRG started to export crude oil through Turkey’s Ceyhan port to the international market.

Since then, thousands of Turkish companies have been investing the semi-autonomous Kurdish region as well as improving trade relations between the two.

Editing by John J. Catherine