Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin were among world leaders congratulating Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after he won Sunday’s historic runoff election to extend his two-decade rule.

– Biden: ‘global challenges’ –
US President Biden said he hoped to work with Erdogan on “shared global challenges”.

“I look forward to continuing to work together as NATO allies on bilateral issues and shared global challenges,” Biden tweeted, making no mention of recent tensions in the bilateral relationship.

– Putin: ‘logical result’ –
Russia’s President Putin, who has collaborated closely with Erdogan on key international issues despite some disagreements, told Turkey’s leader that his win was “the logical result of your dedicated work”.

“Your victory in these elections is the logical result of your dedicated work as head of the Turkish Republic, a clear evidence of the Turkish people’s support for your efforts to strengthen state sovereignty and pursue an independent foreign policy,” Putin said, according to the Kremlin website.

– Von der Leyen: ‘strategic importance’ –
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the Commission of the European Union, which Erdogan aspires for Turkey to join, said the bloc wanted to strengthen ties with the country.

“I congratulate (Erdogan) on winning the elections. I look forward to continue building the EU-Turkiye relationship,” she wrote on Twitter, using an alternate spelling for Turkey.

“It is of strategic importance for both the EU and Turkiye to work on advancing this relationship, for the benefit of our people.”

– Stoltenberg: ‘continuing our work together’ –
Jens Stoltenberg, secretary general of the NATO military alliance, of which Turkey is a member, also sent congratulations.

“Congratulations President (Erdogan) on your re-election. I look forward to continuing our work together and preparing for the NATO Summit in July,” he tweeted.

– Guterres: ‘strengthening the cooperation’ –
UN chief Antonio Guterres congratulated Erdogan on his re-election, the secretary-general’s spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement Sunday.

“He looks forward to further strengthening the cooperation between Turkiye and the United Nations,” Dujarric added.

– Macron: ‘immense challenges’ –
French leader Emmanuel Macron said the two nations had “immense challenges” to work on together.

Writing on Twitter, Macron said these included the “return of peace to Europe”.

“With President Erdogan, who I congratulate, we will continue to move forward,” he said.

– Zelensky: ‘security and stability’ –
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the win for Erdogan, who since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has positioned himself as a mediator in the conflict.

“We count on the further strengthening of the strategic partnership for the good of our countries, as well as the strengthening of cooperation for the security and stability of Europe,” Zelensky said in a post on Twitter, where he congratulated Erdogan on his victory.

– Scholz: ‘fresh impetus’ –
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz hailed the countries as “close partners and allies” whose “people and economies are deeply intertwined”.

“Congratulations to President Erdogan — together we want to advance our common agenda with a fresh impetus,” Scholz wrote on Twitter.

– Modi: ‘ties will grow’ –
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: “I am confident that our bilateral ties and cooperation on global issues will continue to grow in the coming times.”

– Sharif: ‘pillar of strength’ –
Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif said Erdogan was “a pillar of strength for the oppressed Muslims & a fervent voice for their inalienable rights.

“His presidential victory & that of AKP in parliamentary elections is significant in so many ways, reflecting the trust & confidence of the Turkish people in his dynamic leadership,” he tweeted.

– Taliban: ‘service of religion’ –
Prime Minister Al-Haj Mullah Muhammad Hassan Akhund said he was praying “to the Almighty Allah to grant Turkiye, that has a special regional and global status, further strength, stability and service of religion”.

– UAE: ‘enhance strategic partnership’ –
President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan said the UAE looked “forward to working together to further enhance the strategic partnership between our two countries”.

Guardian

A member of the United Kingdom parliament, Carol Monaghan, has condemned the UK’s new immigration policy, which banned international students from bring family members with them from 2024.

Recall that UK Home Office, on Tuesday, also announced that foreign students would be stopped from switching from the student visa route to a work visa until their studies have been completed.

But, reacting to the immigration policy at parliament on Wednesday, Monaghan said the students and their families made valuable contributions to the UK, contributing £40 billion to the economy in 2022.

According to the UK lawmaker, the international students enrich the UK society as they have skills, which have proved useful across key sectors.

Monaghan said, “With labour shortages in healthcare, STEM, IT, to name a few, how can the minister fail to recognise that this policy will aggravate these? I’d like to ask the minister, what assessments have been carried out on the economic impact of this change on the university sector?

“The reality is that many students who come into the UK look beyond their studies and want their families to be part of their experience.

“Without a way for overseas students to bring their families, many will opt to go elsewhere and any drop in international students numbers will cause further harm to universities that are already facing financial difficulties.”

Meanwhile, the UK universities, have also kicked against the country’s new immigration rules.

The Universities UK International (UUK), a body of universities, had said the move was a threat to the country’s global success as a top destination for international talent.

The Director, UUK, Jamie Arrowsmith said, “International students make an invaluable contribution to our universities and to the UK’s economy. Building on the government’s explicit commitments and ambitions, which were clearly set out in the international education strategy, we have seen significant growth since 2019.”

Prince Harry has lost an attempt to challenge the UK government over his security arrangements while in the UK, according to a ruling published on Tuesday.

Harry and his wife Meghan lost their UK taxpayer-paid protection when they quit frontline royal duties in 2020 and moved to North America.

The couple have their own private security team in the United States but Harry says they do not have adequate jurisdiction or access to UK intelligence to keep his family safe when they are in the UK.

The prince, known formally as the Duke of Sussex, had been asking for a legal review of a decision refusing him permission to pay for the UK security himself.

Lawyers for the interior ministry argued that it was “not appropriate” for wealthy people to “buy” protective security when it had decided that it was not in the public interest for such protection to be paid for by the taxpayer.

London’s Metropolitan Police also opposed Harry’s offer on the grounds that it would be wrong to “place officers in harm’s way upon payment of a fee by a private individual”.

In a ruling issued on Tuesday, London High Court judge Martin Chamberlain backed the interior ministry and police decision and refused Harry permission to challenge it in court.

“I refuse permission to apply for judicial review,” he said in a written judgment.

Harry is also involved in a separate trial at the same court against tabloid publisher Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) for alleged unlawful information gathering.

He is expected to give evidence at that trial in June.