Turkish justice minister reacts to US election result

ANKARA

Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said Wednesday that U.S. voters had refused to have their national will dictated.

"Nobody can win an election through newspaper headlines, surveys, [and] television. Ultimately, people are voting. What I see, as election strategy, I think American nationals said 'no' to the dictating of their will," Bozdag said at Anadolu Agency's Editor's desk, who spoke when exit polls were showing Donald trump in the lead.

Exit polls have since shows that Republican nominee Donald Trump has won the U.S. presidential election.

The minister said whoever the U.S. voters would elect, Turkey will continue to work with that president "because the relations between the U.S. and Turkey are interstate relations".

"We have joint interests, strategic partnerships, [and] there are many agreements between us. The change of presidents will not bring a radical revision of these relations," Bozdag said.

Bozdag condemns envoys attended HDP group meeting

The Turkish justice minister has also condemned ambassadors who attended Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) parliamentary meeting that took place Tuesday.

"No party, EU member countries or others can order or suggest to the Turkish judiciary what to do. Some countries' ambassadors dared to interfere with Turkey's domestic affairs," said Bekir Bozdag.

The HDP held its first parliamentary group meeting since the co-chairs of the party along with several other deputies had been remanded in custody on Nov. 4 failing to answer public prosecutors’ summons concerning an ongoing counter-terrorism probe.

In the meeting, the party's Diyarbakir deputy, Caglar Demirel, addressed the attendees, thanking Belgian, Austrian, Luxembourg envoys, as well as the Greek embassy's first secretary, representatives of Germany, Spain, Finland and the EU's Turkey delegation.

The arrested lawmakers face prosecution under Turkey’s anti-terrorism laws after their parliamentary immunity was lifted earlier this year. Lawmakers from other parties had also been summoned before public prosecutors, but only HDP deputies refused to testify.

"The European Union, for a long time, has been leaning towards issues that are against Turkey's policies," Bozdag added. "Don't you think that good stuff also happens in Turkey? They do not include the good things in their reports."

EU policy chief Federica Mogherini issued a statement Tuesday, calling on Turkey to "safeguard its parliamentary democracy, including the respect for human rights, the rule of law, fundamental freedoms and the right of everyone to a fair trial, also in conformity with its commitments as a candidate country."

In a statement released Tuesday afternoon, Turkey's Foreign Ministry said the EU "had lost credibility among Turkish people" concerning the fight against terrorism.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini's statements concerning Turkey were "unacceptable".