| Ataturk's Grandchildren |
November 2002
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Turkey's Electoral Landslide
While American's prepared for a mid-term election that promised to the a close race between one set of careerists and another, Turkey held an election that could have consequences extending into the 22nd century. A surprise landslide victory for the Justice and Development Party [AK by its Turkish initials], a faction with substantial Islamic roots, suggests a future full of danger, and possibly some hope.
The party leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has promised that his party will respect democracy and human rights -- not the sort of thing infidels expect from Islamist politicians. But then, Turkey is different. Make no mistake, the election of a religiously based party is always grounds for concern regardless of the religion.
However, of the three main Islamic cultures, the Turks have had the most successful transition to modernity, much to the chagrin of the Arabs and Persians. The Turks are also America's best friend in the Islamic world; NATO members, the Turks sent the second largest ground forces to the Korean Peninsula to fend off the Communist North in 1950. The Turks allow US bases to be used in enforcing the "No Fly" zone in northern Iraq.
The danger of such an ally becoming another Iran is clear, but the Turks are truly different. It is possible to be secular in politics and religious in civil society; America is but one example. If the AK can provide a secular government that fixes the Turkish economy and takes the country into the EU, it will help extinguish the flames of Islamic extremism, and the Turks will have provided a model for their coreligionists to follow.