Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan kept up support for Venezuela’s tottering strongman Nicolas Maduro today, saying he was a democratically elected leader and needed to be respected as such.

Speaking at a joint news conference in Ankara with visiting Maltese President Marie-Louise Coleira Preca, Erdogan asserted, "If you do not respect election results, then this is not democracy.” Erdogan urged Maduro to keep resisting opposition leader Juan Guaido’s efforts to topple him. “Should Maduro stand tall and continue on the path he believes in, I am certain that the people of Venezuela will stand behind him,” Erdogan said.

Erdogan’s comments followed a phone call to the Venezuelan leader in which he pledged support and referred to Maduro as “my brother.”

The Venezuelan president, who is blamed for the economic meltdown that has impoverished millions in the oil-rich Latin American country, is facing the biggest threat to his rule since being re-elected for a second year term last May in polls that were marred by an opposition boycott and widespread allegations of fraud. The United States, Canada, Latin American heavyweight Brazil, Colombia and Peru are among the countries that recognized Guaido as Venezuela’s legitimate president.