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SWEEPING WIN TO TURKEY'S EX-ISLAMISTS
James Button
The Age, Australia
July 23 2007
A LANDSLIDE win by Turkey's former Islamist party in national elections
on Sunday could redraw the country's political landscape.
The outcome would make a coup unlikely and dramatically reduce the
power of the military and secular elite.
The Justice and Development Party (AKP) led by charismatic Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan won nearly half the national vote,
an increase of 13 per cent on its 2002 victory and the highest vote
recorded by any party in 50 years.
The result gives the party about 340 seats in the 550-member
parliament and reveals a huge transfer of power from the Istanbul and
Ankara elites to business people and traders in Anatolia, the Turkish
heartland. Those elite groups have accused the AKP of secretly planning
to introduce sharia law.
After an election triggered by an argument over whether Turkey could
have a president whose wife wears a headscarf, the result underlines
the transformation of the AKP to a pro-business party of the centre.
Ten years ago, Mr Erdogan and leaders of the Welfare Party, the AKP's
predecessor, tried to ban alcohol and brothels and held debates on
whether it was proper to shake women's hands.
Today, the AKP attracts not only conservative Muslims but Kurds (15
per cent of the population) and even an increasing number of people
on the moderate left.
The sweeping victory could embolden it to renew a push to take the
presidency, or it may seek a compromise candidate to reaffirm its
contention that it is no threat to the secular state.
In April it proposed Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul for the presidency,
prompting the military to intervene in politics for the first time
in a decade - with a website warning to the Government against
"undermining the republic, especially secularism".
The military and many secularists were alarmed that Mr Gul's wife,
Hayrnnisa, wears a headscarf, seen as an unacceptable symbol of Islam's
inroads into the secular state established by Mustapha Kemal Ataturk
in 1923. But on Sunday night, Mr Erdogan said the founding principles
of the republic would not be compromised.
"We are the strongest advocates of a democratic, secular, social
state governed by the rule of law," he said.
"I call on all leaders not to close their doors. Let's get around
a table and discuss the problems of Turkey's democracy and make the
rule of law reign."
Mr Erdogan said his Government was committed to joining the European
Union, despite growing hostility to Turkish membership among some EU
governments, notably France and Germany.
Dr Ibrahim Kalin, of the Foundation for Political, Economic and
Social Research, an Ankara think tank, said the AKP, with its mix
of openness to globalisation and emphasis on social justice, was
"the party closest to the Third Way in Turkey".
He said its victory showed how Turkey could offer a model of a modern,
progressive Islam that repudiated the "clash of civilisations" thesis
proposed by political scientist Samuel Huntington and enthusiastically
endorsed by Osama bin Laden.
Etyen Macupyan, a political scientist and editor of the Armenian
newspaper Agos, said the change in the AKP meant that religion in
Turkey was likely to retreat further into private life.
In Brussels, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso
congratulated Mr Erdogan last night.
"This (victory) comes at an important moment for the people of Turkey
as the country moves forward with political and economic reforms,"
he said.
"Prime Minister Erdogan has given his personal commitment to the
sustained movement towards the European Union," Mr Barroso added.
Turkey began accession talks with the EU in 2005 despite broad public
scepticism about its bid within the 27-member bloc.
James Button
The Age, Australia
July 23 2007
A LANDSLIDE win by Turkey's former Islamist party in national elections
on Sunday could redraw the country's political landscape.
The outcome would make a coup unlikely and dramatically reduce the
power of the military and secular elite.
The Justice and Development Party (AKP) led by charismatic Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan won nearly half the national vote,
an increase of 13 per cent on its 2002 victory and the highest vote
recorded by any party in 50 years.
The result gives the party about 340 seats in the 550-member
parliament and reveals a huge transfer of power from the Istanbul and
Ankara elites to business people and traders in Anatolia, the Turkish
heartland. Those elite groups have accused the AKP of secretly planning
to introduce sharia law.
After an election triggered by an argument over whether Turkey could
have a president whose wife wears a headscarf, the result underlines
the transformation of the AKP to a pro-business party of the centre.
Ten years ago, Mr Erdogan and leaders of the Welfare Party, the AKP's
predecessor, tried to ban alcohol and brothels and held debates on
whether it was proper to shake women's hands.
Today, the AKP attracts not only conservative Muslims but Kurds (15
per cent of the population) and even an increasing number of people
on the moderate left.
The sweeping victory could embolden it to renew a push to take the
presidency, or it may seek a compromise candidate to reaffirm its
contention that it is no threat to the secular state.
In April it proposed Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul for the presidency,
prompting the military to intervene in politics for the first time
in a decade - with a website warning to the Government against
"undermining the republic, especially secularism".
The military and many secularists were alarmed that Mr Gul's wife,
Hayrnnisa, wears a headscarf, seen as an unacceptable symbol of Islam's
inroads into the secular state established by Mustapha Kemal Ataturk
in 1923. But on Sunday night, Mr Erdogan said the founding principles
of the republic would not be compromised.
"We are the strongest advocates of a democratic, secular, social
state governed by the rule of law," he said.
"I call on all leaders not to close their doors. Let's get around
a table and discuss the problems of Turkey's democracy and make the
rule of law reign."
Mr Erdogan said his Government was committed to joining the European
Union, despite growing hostility to Turkish membership among some EU
governments, notably France and Germany.
Dr Ibrahim Kalin, of the Foundation for Political, Economic and
Social Research, an Ankara think tank, said the AKP, with its mix
of openness to globalisation and emphasis on social justice, was
"the party closest to the Third Way in Turkey".
He said its victory showed how Turkey could offer a model of a modern,
progressive Islam that repudiated the "clash of civilisations" thesis
proposed by political scientist Samuel Huntington and enthusiastically
endorsed by Osama bin Laden.
Etyen Macupyan, a political scientist and editor of the Armenian
newspaper Agos, said the change in the AKP meant that religion in
Turkey was likely to retreat further into private life.
In Brussels, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso
congratulated Mr Erdogan last night.
"This (victory) comes at an important moment for the people of Turkey
as the country moves forward with political and economic reforms,"
he said.
"Prime Minister Erdogan has given his personal commitment to the
sustained movement towards the European Union," Mr Barroso added.
Turkey began accession talks with the EU in 2005 despite broad public
scepticism about its bid within the 27-member bloc.