While I really don’t like taking a dictator’s word, it does look like Trump called Erdogan and congratulated him in his Sunday victory.
This from Erdogan’s office:
U.S. President Donald Trump called President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to congratulate him on the results of the June 24 elections.
— Turkish Presidency (@trpresidency) June 26, 2018
The two leaders also reaffirmed their shared determination to improve bilateral cooperation in all areas, defense and military relations in particular.
This is the readout of the call from Ankara:
More than 6 hours ago Turkish Presidency issued a readout about Trump & Erdogan phone call.
— ilhan tanir (@WashingtonPoint) June 26, 2018
No readout from WHouse so far.
Turkish Presidency: https://t.co/XVglDEzdGT
Following is the press release on the phone call between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and President Donald J. Trump of the United States:
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had a telephone conversation with President Donald J. Trump of the U.S. today.
U.S. President Trump congratulated President Erdoğan on his election victory on June 24 and wished him success.
Highlighting the strategic partnership between Turkey and the U.S., the two leaders reaffirmed their shared determination to improve bilateral cooperation in all areas, defense and military relations in particular, in the upcoming period.
The importance of implementing the joint roadmap on Manbij, and of continuing to work together in the fight against terror was underscored.
President Erdoğan and U.S. President Trump stated that they are looking forward to meeting at the NATO Summit, which will be held in Brussels on July 11-12, 2018.
Respectfully announced to the public.
Yesterday, Sarah Sanders said that Trump would be calling Erdogan “to reaffirm the “strong bonds” between the U.S. and Turkey.”
So yeah it probably happened. Also, Trump did it last year too so why wouldn’t he do it again?
Heck even Adam Schiff gets it and this guy is despicable:
Erdogan “won” reelection in Turkey this weekend only by decimating the opposition through arrests, violence and squashing freedom of the press.
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) June 26, 2018
Turkey's descent into autocracy is another reminder that democracy is under assault worldwide.
DO NOT CONGRATULATE.
He’s right. There are no free and fair elections in Turkey after all the government purges, arrests, and media takeovers by fascist Erdogan. He even took over the Cihan news agency which has always reported elections:
The unlawful seizure and later shutting down of Cihan news agency, news service that used to report elections results fairly accurately for a decade, was strategic move in 2016 by #Erdogan gov't to manipulate reporting of election results.
— Abdullah Bozkurt (@abdbozkurt) June 24, 2018
The bottom line is that the leader of the free world should not be congratulating a fascist thug dictator of ‘winning’ his election under these circumstances.
He congratulated Putin earlier this year as well. Trump just can’t seem to help himself.