Supporters of newly elected Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan listen to his speech from the balcony of the AKP party headquarters during the celebrations of his victory in the presidential election vote in Ankara on August 10, 2014. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday won Turkey's presidency in the first round of elections with 52.1 percent of the vote, an almost complete vote count said. Erdogan's main rival Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu won 38.8 percent of the vote and Kurdish candidate Selahattin Demirtas 9.1 percent of the vote, Turkish television channels said, based on a 99 percent vote count.AFP PHOTO/ADEM ALTAN (Photo credit should read ADEM ALTAN/AFP/Getty Images)
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Turkish Prime Minister wins presidency
04:36 - Source: CNN

Story highlights

Erdogan avoided a runoff by winning more than 52% of the votes

Erdogan stopped short of declaring victory when he spoke Sunday night

"We will continue to work for our nation," Erdogan told a crowd in Istanbul

CNN  — 

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan will become the country’s first directly-elected president by a wide margin of votes, according the semi-official Anadolu News Agency.

Erdogan stopped short of declaring victory when he spoke Sunday night.

“We will continue to work for our nation, we will continue to serve our homeland,” Erdogan told a crowd in Istanbul. “We will continue our fight for advanced democracy and sovereignty of democracy standards.”

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With nearly 98% of the votes counted, Erdogan avoided a runoff by winning more than 52% of the votes, according to CNN Turk and Anadolu News Agency.

Diplomat Ekmeleddin Mehm Ihsanoglu came in second with 38% of the votes. Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtas was a distant third with 9%.

READ: Opinion: Turkey needs Erdogan

READ: Four things you should know about the poll

CNN’s Hande Atay and Chandrika Narayan contributed to this report.