Turkey's Erdogan claims victory after presidential vote

ANKARA (Reuters) - Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan thanked supporters for electing him as Turkey's 12th president on Sunday, claiming victory in the nation's first popular vote for head of state. "Today it is not Recep Tayyip Erdogan who won this election, it is the national will, democracy," Erdogan told thousands of supporters in his first speech as president-elect from the balcony of his ruling AK Party headquarters in Ankara. "We are closing one era and moving forward to a new one." (Reporting by Gulsen Solaker; Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Asli Kandemir)