Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan won Turkey's first direct presidential election with a landslide victory Sunday, solidifying his already strong control over the Turkish political system. 

Erdogan will continue what will be a 12-year term, and will fulfill a mandate to create a "new Turkey."

Turkey's election board announced late Sunday that Erdogan won according to preliminary results. The board counted 99 percent of the ballots, and found that he gained 52 percent of the vote, far head of his opponent, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, who only earned 38 percent of the vote, according to The Wall Street Journal. 

Ergodan called for reconciliation between differing societal divisions during his victory speech, but warned that his political foes should not undercut Turkish security. 

"Without a doubt, new Turkey, great Turkey, leading Turkey has won today. We are closing the doors on one era, and we are now taking our first step to a new phase," Erdogan said. "We will face down whoever threatens our national security."

Tayyip Erdogan was born in Istanbul in 1954, and became the head of a local youth branch of the National Salvation Party, Turkey's Islamist movement in 1976. 

He continued his political career into adulthood, and was elected the mayor of Istanbul, promising to eliminate corruption, in 1994, and served in that position until 1998. 

He was sentenced to 10 months in prison by secular courts due to a poem that Erdogan recited in December 1997, which the court said incited Islamist revolts. 

He went back into politics in 2001, when he established the Justice and Development Party, which is more moderate that Turkey's Islamist parties. The party secured a majority in parliament with 35 percent of national votes in 2002. 

He became the country's prime minister in 2003, and he won a third term in office in 2011 with 50 percent of the vote. 

Yet, in May 2013, anti-government protests began, then dozens of Erdogan's political allies were detained in a corruption investigation that December. They denied all allegations of corruption. 

Despite allegations of corruption, the Justice and Development Party maintained control in local elections in March 2014. 

His win on Sunday marked his ninth consecutive electoral victory. 

Erdogan pledged to reset Turkey's political power. Until recently, Turkey, a key Washington ally, elected presidents through parliament, not a public vote. Supporters of direct elections say that it will justify the president's role as head of state due to the electoral mandate. 

Yet, the Republican People's Party, the opposition party to Erdogan, said his election could create a more authoritarian system. 

Erdogan was elected with a great deal of support from conservative Muslims, many of whom joined a flourishing middle class as annual incomes tripled to $10,000 per capita under his political tenure. He also gained the support of religious citizens by allowing head scarves for women in state universities and most public offices, and raising the status of religious high schools. 

While Erdogan enjoys popularity in the country, Turkey is still very politically divided. A survey from the Pew Research Center shows that 48 percent of Turkish society approves of Erdogan, while 48 oppose him. Many secular citizens oppose Erdogan, evidenced by the voting turnout of 75 percent, which is the lowest participation in a national election since 1977. 

Erdogan will now choose a prime minister, which experts expect to be a loyalist so he can maintain control of AKP, the Islamist political party. 

Erdogan said he will continue as prime minister until he is sworn in as president on Aug. 28. 

His victory is a huge reversal from six months ago, when he was beset by protests, a downturn in the economy and a corruption scandal. He overcame those issues by enacting a tough crackdown on anti-government protests and reforming judicial institutions to prevent the corruption investigation, as he said it was an attempt to overthrow his government. 

However, some Western nations are concerned that Erdogan could become a more authoritarian figure, akin to Russian President Vladimir Putin or Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez.