On the eve of Turkey's presidential election, there was no shortage of predictions about the defeat of incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, or his "inconclusive" victory, which would supposedly end in a "Maidan" because it would not be "recognised" by the opposition. Even those who predicted Erdogan's victory promised that after the election he would become "unpopular" and Turkey could fall into international isolation for being "undemocratic".

But now the election is over. There is no doubt that Recep Tayyip Erdogan won them. The vote was totally democratic and the whole world acknowledged it. It is known that 21 heads of state and 13 prime ministers, as well as many prime ministers and representatives of international organisations, including the Organisation of Turkic States, NATO and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation attended the inauguration ceremony of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. This is not only a sign of unequivocal recognition of the election results and Erdoğan's victory, it is also evidence of an unprecedented increase in respect for Turkey as a state and regional power.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's inauguration ceremony on 3 June 2023. The inauguration ceremony will be attended by Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan, Sadyr Japarov of Kyrgyzstan, Rumen Radev of Bulgaria, Ali Bongo Ondimba of Gabon, Umaro Sissoko Embalo of Guinea-Bissau, Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, Jakov Milatovic of Montenegro, Denis Sassou Nguesso of Congo, Northern Macedonia - Stevo Pendarovski, Uzbekistan - Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro Rwanda - Paul Kagame, Senegal - Maki Sall, Somalia - Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud, Togo - For Essozimna Gnassingbe, Turkmenistan - Serdar Berdymukhamedov, Bangladesh - Mohammad Shahabuddin Chuppu, Guinea - Mamadi Doumbui and others.

The list of guests of honour includes 13 prime ministers, including Prime Minister of Georgia - Shahbaz Sharif of Pakistan, Viktor Orban of Hungary, Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia and Abdulhamid Dibeibe of Libya. Representatives from eight international organisations will also attend, including Secretary General of the Organisation of Turkic States Kubanichbek Omuraliev, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Secretary General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Hussein Ibrahim Taha. Twelve countries will be represented at the level of parliamentary speakers, including Vyacheslav Volodin, Chairman of the Russian State Duma, and Ding Zhongli, Deputy Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

Particularly revealing was the visit of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to Recep Tayyip Erdogan's inauguration. It is eloquent if only because it became known immediately after Pashinyan publicly stated that Armenia was not an ally of Russia in the conflict with Ukraine.

As is well known, Armenian nationalists viewed "alliance" with Russia solely as a counterweight to "hostile" Turkey. And now Pashinyan publicly renounces his alliance with Russia and flies "to bow" to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. It is "to bow" because during the 44-day war, which ended in the defeat of Armenia and the de-occupation of Azerbaijani Karabakh, only a lazy person in Armenia did not argue that their country was at war "with Turkey and Erdogan" and he was the "main enemy" of Armenia. And now a former "enemy" is coming to participate in his triumph, hoping for an acceptable peace. Few, though, were as eager for Recep Tayyip Erdogan's electoral defeat as the Armenian nationalists. The situation is very telling.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan's inauguration is turning into his personal triumph and that of his country. The majority of Turkish voters have entrusted him with their country for the next five-year term, which means they believe that as its leader he will make it even richer and more influential on the international stage.

 However, Turkey today is not the Turkey of the early 2000s, when Recep Tayyip Erdogan first came to power (initially as prime minister). It was then Turkey, a country with a relatively low standard of living and underdeveloped modern technology. International infrastructure projects, including transit projects, were just beginning to develop. Today, Turkey is a powerful regional power with geopolitical ambitions and rapidly developing high-tech areas. Turkey today occupies a key position on East-West routes and is becoming a central power for the entire Old World (Eurasia and Africa), a crossroads of global economic flows. One of the main transit routes, which has grown in importance thanks to Turkey, is the route through the South Caucasus between Europe and Asia, which gives new impetus to the development of both Georgia and Azerbaijan.

The living standards in Turkey have also risen - the country that the population was leaving to migrate to Europe for a better quality of life is itself becoming a magnet for migrants. The anti-immigrant rhetoric, by the way, was staked by the opposition. Forgetting to specify that if it were not for the rise in living standards in Turkey thanks to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, neither migrants nor refugees would "linger" there.

However, most importantly, for the first time in decades, Turks have felt like a self-sufficient country and people, with a great and glorious history and traditions, rather than a country forever "catching up" and doomed to "learn from the West" in everything. Under Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the people have once again begun to take pride in their Ottoman past and to believe that, although not in all aspects, the former greatness of the country as a unique civilisation and a model for many countries and peoples of the world can be restored.

Most importantly, under Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey has become a strategic partner and ally for Georgia in the full sense of the word. Today Turkey is giving economic, political and strategic equality to Georgia, recognizing its territorial sovereignty and integrity.

Alexandre Zakhariadze