right. look, this is the closest the president has come to losing the presidency in two decades in office. it is also the first time in turkish history the election has gone to a runoff election. it is not surprising considering all of the huge issues in this election that were front and center. there is as you pointed out, the issue of inflation. hitting some 85% really reducing people s buying power. and the government s response to it has been pretty bizarre. to lower inflation rates rather than hike them which has been happening in the rest of the western world. there was also the earthquake in february and plenty of government criticism of the initial response to it. inboth parties were debating what to do with them. given all that, it is surprising that erdogan did as well as he did. but the government has a lot of built in powers to begin with.
opponent pointing out that his parties, the number of seats he has in parliament has decreased since the last vote in 2018. in turkey, votes are held every five years so it will be quite a while before turks get another chance to unseat erdogan. thanks so much, scott. thank you. and early i spoke with steven a. cook, a senior fellow for middle eastern studies on the council on foreign relations and asked him what erdogan s victory means for his relationship with washington which is at times quite rocky. the relationship between the united states and turkey is quite difficult over a variety of issues but mostly having to do with the support that the united states has lent to a kurdish fighting force. on the washington side, it is turkey s purchase of the russian manufactured air defense similar that is designed specifically to shoot
welcome to news room. erdogan secures the historic third term as turkey s president. we ll take a look at what it means for the country s relations for washington and we will show you the dramatic video of the moment a driver and passenger fired at each other while on board the moving bus. live from cnn center, this is cnn newsroom. we begin in washington where there is an urgent push for a tentative deal to avoid a default. president biden and kevin mccarthy have cut the deal
down nato aircraft. turkey is an important member of nato. the turks have been seeking a reset in the relationship. but what they mean is essentially the united states accepting turkey s view of issues and adjusting accordingly. i don t think the biden administration or congress which has become an important actor is redding to turkish demands. so erdogan will likely respond to his victory by once again perhaps in a more aggressive tone seeking a change in relations with the united states. he has requested f16 fighter planes and a variety of other things. we ll have to see how president biden weighs the importance of keeping turkey in the tent, so to speak, or continuing to have
address the existential threat of climate change while also protecting american jobs and american industry. reporter: biden also met turkish president erdogan today. they spoke about u.s. concerns that this nato ally on the one hand is buying russian surface to air missile defense systems, on the other seeking to purchase american f-16s. this issue among other things. and finally, here at the iconic trevi fountain in rome, a lot of the leaders met today to toss coins over their backs into the fountain that symbolically means you ll come back to rome. but for now for most of them, it is on to scotland. in fact, biden didn t even make it to the trevi fountain today because he was business by with erdogan. but in terms of progress maden climate issue ahead of the 26