President Erdogan heralds Turkey's ‘fresh start’

ANKARA, TURKEY - JULY 09: Turkey is making a fresh start after the country officially switched to a new presidential system of government, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in his inaugural address on Monday. Speaking to a host of Turkish and foreign dignitaries at the presidential complex in the capital Ankara, Erdogan said: “With a presidential system of government, we are moving to a new system of government which is far beyond our almost 150-year-quest for democracy and what we have experienced through the history of our 95-year-old republic.” He added that Turkey is leaving behind a system which cost the country politically, socially, and economically. “We will try to be worthy of our nation with the awareness that we are the president not only of those who voted for us, but all 81 million” citizens of Turkey, Erdogan said. Erdogan late Monday afternoon took the presidential oath of office to become the Republic of Turkey's first president under its new governmental system. (Footage by Celaleddin Gurbuz - Fatih Basaran/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)