NICOSIA, May 15. /TASS/. Turkey’s incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will win the second round of the presidential election, an independent Cypriot journalist and one of the most popular video bloggers in the country, Alex Christoforou, told TASS on Monday.

"I think the choice in the end will be Erdogan. The voters sent a clear signal yesterday," Christoforou said. "He will enter the runoff with a definite advantage. I believe that a significant number of votes cast for the third candidate (Sinan Ohan who dropped out of the presidential race - TASS) will go to the incumbent Turkish leader."

Christoforou believes that if Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the Turkish opposition, wins the second round, it will not have a positive impact on relations with Cyprus, which has been an ethnically divided country since Turkey’s armed incursion in 1974 that followed a coup d'etat by the supporters of the island’s unification with Greece.

"I do not think that if the opposition comes to power, the new government will be more benevolent towards the initiative of Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides for resuming negotiations involving Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots," Christoforou said. "The situation may even get worse in this regard, because the current Turkish opposition is fragmented and consists of six different parties. This means that the new government will be very weak and it will be difficult for it to agree with the Cypriots on any long-term solutions."

Christoforou doesn’t see Kilicdaroglu’s hypothetical rise to power as a boon for Russian-Turkish relations, either.

"During his election campaign the opposition leader made conflicting statements: on the one hand, he promised to preserve the potential of Russian-Turkish relations, but on the other, he accused Moscow of interfering in the elections," the expert said. "At the moment it is difficult to say what line he will eventually prefer to take with respect to Russia, should he come to power. But it can be assumed that because of the shortcomings of any new Turkish government it would be easier for the United States to put pressure on it in attempts to make it join anti-Russian sanctions, for instance."

Christoforou sees Erdogan as a more predictable politician.

"Whether you like him or not, everyone knows what to expect from him. He has close relations with many world leaders and key players in the world arena. He knows major world problems inside and out," the journalist stressed. "In this sense Erdogan's victory means stability for international relations."

Turkey held presidential and parliamentary elections on Sunday. As of 3:15 p.m. local time (Moscow time), after the opening of 100% of the ballot boxes, the incumbent president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan got 49.51% of the vote, the opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu - 44.88% and the representative of the Ata political bloc Sinan Ohan - 5.7%.