President Isaac Herzog on Sunday congratulated Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on his victory in the presidential runoff in his country.
“Congratulations to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey on his election victory. I am convinced that we will continue to work together to strengthen and expand the good ties between Turkey and Israel,” said Herzog.
Erdogan earlier on Sunday claimed victory over his reformist opponent, economist Kemal Kılı&ccedildaroğlu, after the polls closed across Turkey.
The Turkish Electoral Body announced that with 75.4% of the vote counted, Erdogan leads Kılı&ccedildaroğlu 53.4% to 46.6%.
Erdogan bested Kılı&ccedildaroğlu, the candidate for the secularist Republican People’s Party (CHP), in the first vote on May 14, but narrowly failed to clear the 50% threshold needed to win outright, sending the country into a second round of voting.

Running at the helm of the right-wing Justice and Development Party, Erdogan received 49.5% of the vote in the first round, compared to 44.89% for Kılı&ccedildaroğlu.
Last week, nationalist third-party candidate Sinan Ogan, who received 5.17% of the vote in the first round, endorsed Erdogan.