Erdogan: Maduro brother, stand tall

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan voiced solidarity with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro after the U.S. recognized opposition-controlled National Assembly's President Juan Guaido as interim president.

"Our president called and extended Turkey’s support to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and said ‘My brother Maduro! Stand tall, we stand by you!," Turkish presidential spokesman İbrahim Kalın's wrote on Twitter.

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself interim president on Wednesday, winning the backing of Washington and many Latin American nations and prompting socialist Maduro, who has led the oil-rich nation since 2013, to break relations with the United States, the Tribune reported.

Major regional players Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Peru and Argentina all gave their backing to Guaido’s self-proclamation as acting president, which he made in front of crowd of tens of thousands of supporters in the capital Caracas.

Cuba, however, sprang to the defence of its socialist ally, expressing ‘solidarity’ with Maduro while Mexico extended lukewarm support to him.