President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday accused the US and Europe of “meddling” in Turkey’s affairs after statements from Western allies following his ruling party’s challenge to local election results. Erdogan and his AKP suffered an upset in Sunday’s ballot when results showed the party lost the capital Ankara and was narrowly defeated in Istanbul, the country’s largest city and economic hub. While the United States has called on Turkey to accept the results, the European Union urged Ankara to allow elected officials to “exercise their mandate freely”.
