Turkey’s Erdogan takes oath of office, ushering in his third presidential term

Turkey’s longtime leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, took the oath of office on Saturday, ushering in his third presidential term that followed three stints as prime minister.
Erdogan, 69, won a new five-year term in a runoff presidential race</a> last week that could stretch his 20-year rule in the key NATO country that straddles Europe and Asia into a quarter-century. The country of 85 million controls NATO’s second-largest army, hosts millions of refugees and played a crucial role in brokering a deal that allowed the shipment of Ukraine grain across the Black Sea, averting a global food crisis.
The republic will be celebrating its centennial in October, and so presiding over a new “Turkish century” became an important campaign slogan for Erdogan. During his inauguration ceremony at the presidential palace on Saturday, he hailed “the start of the Turkish century, a new period of glory for our country.”