* Erdogan credited with nearly 52% of the vote * New president calls for social reconciliation * Critics fear an authoritarian state by Daren Butler and Ayla Jean Yackley ISTANBUL, August 11 (Reuters ) – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made history Sunday by becoming the first round and with almost 52% of the vote the first president elected by direct universal suffrage. To the sound of horns and under a cloud of flags, his supporters took to the streets of the capital Ankara after the announcement of his victory by Turkish television. Full results will be announced on Monday, but the president of the High Electoral Commission confirmed the victory in the first round of Recep Tayyip Erdogan. With 51.8% of votes, ahead of thirteen points Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, common candidate secular Kemalist and nationalist (38.5%). Selahattin Demirtas, the People’s Democratic Party (HDP main pro-Kurdish forces), won 9.7%, according to television channels. This result obtained by a Kurd would have been unthinkable only a few years there when the central government was fighting against the Kurdish rebellion. “TURKEY WILL rise from the ashes” “Today is a new day, a new step for Turkey, it is the birth of Turkey, who will rise from the ashes,” he told Erdogan to its thousands of supporters come cheer outside the headquarters of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Ankara. But Erdogan, who heads the Islamic-conservative government since 2003 and that his opponents accuse him of authoritarian drift, also promised to work towards social reconciliation. One year after protests from Taksim Square, and as leaders of his party and relatives were involved in a vast corruption scandal, he promised it would be “the president of the 77 million Turks and not just those who voted for (him). ” At 60, the first president elected by direct universal suffrage of Turkey, who will be sworn in on August 28, will make sure to plunge the country into a semi-presidential system. No matter the effect for Erdogan to run in predominantly ceremonial duties of the presidency. “Erdogan continues to dominate Turkish politics and wants to make the presidency an executive function, with an active role. He led the game when he was Prime Minister, he will continue to lead the game from the Presidency “warns Nicholas Spiro, head of Spiro Sovereign Strategy. The AKP will meet soon to consider the candidates to replace the posts of prime minister and party leader. The Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is considered the favorite. “The future Prime Minister of Turkey will rule in the shadow of Erdogan,” says Spiro. PRESIDENT OF THE CENTENARY? In just over a decade of economic growth, Erdogan has also transformed Turkish society and pillars of the secular republic founded in 1923 by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk on the ruins of the Ottoman empire. His critics see Erdogan in a “modern sultan” refractory to criticism and from political Islam, and fear that his assumption of the presidency away a little more of Turkey, a NATO member and a candidate for entry into the European Union, the secular ideals of its founding father. Erdogan, who was confident of his victory, has already expressed a desire to stay on as president for two terms, at least until 2023, the centenary year of the Kemalist republic, a symbolic date for the one who is often referred in his speech to the Ottoman Empire. His supporters saw in his election announced the completion of its campaign since coming to power to reshape Turkey at the expense of secular elites who dominate the country since the proclamation of the republic. His supporters put forward including its economic achievements to explain their support. (Nick Tattersall and Orhan Coskun; Tangi Salaun, Bertrand Boucey Danielle Rouquié and Henri-Pierre André for French service)
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