Xi congratulates Turkey's Erdogan on election as president - Xinhua

BEIJING, Aug.13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping has congratulated Recep Tayyip Erdogan on being elected as president of Turkey.

In a message dated Tuesday, Xi said the China-Turkey relations have achieved substantial progress since the two nations forged diplomatic ties 43 years ago.

Particularly, since the establishment of a strategic relationship of cooperation in 2010, political mutual trust between the two countries has been constantly strengthened, and fruitful results have been reaped in their practical cooperation, noted Xi.

"I highly values the development of China-Turkey relations and stands ready to work with you to further advance the traditional friendship between the two peoples and deepen mutually-beneficial cooperation in various fields," he said.

Xi also vowed to join hands with the Turkish president-elect to push forward the strategic relationship of cooperation between the two countries and bring about benefits to both nations and peoples.

Erdogan, who is currently Turkey's prime minister, is set to become the country's first directly-elected president after winning more than 52 percent of the vote on Sunday's presidential election.

ANKARA, Aug 11 (Xinhua) -- Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan won Sunday's presidential elections with as many votes as a little over a simple majority, avoiding a run-off round and scooping up an election victory.

Yet an atmosphere of political uncertainty looms large as fresh controversy has erupted over Erdogan's term and party-links and concerns raised about who will control the government and the ruling party after Erdogan's departure. Full story