Outgoing Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Turkey will witness “a new era” during his tenure as the new president of the country.
"Today we are closing an era and taking the first step for a new era," Erdogan said in a victory speech from the headquarters of his Justice and Development Party in the Turkish capital Ankara on Sunday.
He also vowed a new era of social reconciliation process in Turkey.
"Today is a new day. Today is a milestone. Today is the day when a new Turkey is rising from the ashes,” he further said.
Erdogan also thanked the Turkish people who took part in the presidential election. "I thank each and every citizen, whether they voted for me or not, who contributed to the writing of history on such a historic day.”
According to Turkey's election board, Erdogan won the country's first direct presidential election in the first round.
"The provisional results show that Erdogan has the majority of the valid votes," High Election Board chairman Sadi Guven said.
"We have received more than 99 percent [of the votes]. Tomorrow we will announce the provisional results," he added.
Erdogan won around 52 percent of the vote of the presidential election. His main rival Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu won over 38 percent of the Sunday's ballot.
Former head of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Ihsanoglu, 71, was the joint candidate of the center-left Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).
Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtas won the third place with slightly more than nine percent of the vote.
Turkish citizens voted at more than 165,000 polling stations on Sunday to directly elect their head of state for a five-year term. Some 53 million people were eligible to vote in the election.
