Türkiye has expressed appreciation that Sunday's early presidential elections in Kazakhstan were conducted "successfully and in a calm atmosphere," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.
"We attach great importance to the security and stability of Kazakhstan, with which we have deep historical ties and enjoy very close relations and we hope that the results of the elections will be auspicious for the friendly and brotherly Kazakh people," the ministry said in a statement.
Nearly 12 million voters cast ballots to elect a new president after current President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in September called for early elections, saying the polls would launch "an electoral cycle that will lead to a radical reset of the entire political system."
Tokayev took over as president in March 2019, succeeding Nursultan Nazarbayev, who ruled the oil-rich Central Asian nation for three decades.
Kazakhstan established diplomatic ties with Türkiye in March 1992, about two months after officially announcing its independence.
Thus, Türkiye opened its embassy in Almaty, the country's capital at that time, and pioneered the establishment of the first diplomatic mission in independent Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan also set up its embassy in Ankara in the same year. In 2009, bilateral relations gained the status of strategic partnership.
