Secular Turkey Is Becoming a Thing of the Past By Ron Coody

For those who follow Middle Eastern affairs, the recent election in Turkey probably got their attention. It certainly got the attention of lots of Turks, with nearly 80% of the electorate turning out for the specially called vote. The election saga started in the spring when the ruling secular elite threw out the AK party’s candidate for president on the grounds that the parliament lacked a quorum. A new election was called to reelect the parliament, with the secularists hoping to gain some seats and weaken the pro-Islamic AK party. The secularists failed…miserably.

The AK party won 46% of the vote, the largest majority any party has one since the late ‘60’s. Because of the way Turkey ’s democracy is set up, the AK party though winning a larger share of the popular vote did however lose a few seats in parliament. It matters little. With such a huge show of popular support for them and a shrinking show of support for the secular party of Turkey ’s founder Ataturk, the AK party has a green light to proceed basically in any direction it likes.

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