On competence alone, Recep Tayyip Erdogan “deserved his landslide election victory“, says The Times. Turkey’s prime minister has proved one of the most effective reformers since the founding of the Turkish Republic in 1923. Over four years, the economy has prospered, investment has surged, politics has stabilised and “serious negotiations” have begun over EU entry. “This, however, was not the main issue”. At stake was Turkey’s identity and whether a moderate Islamist party was compatible with secular democracy. Overwhelmingly, voters decided it was.
It’s an “encouraging sign“, says The Independent. Turkey proves that liberal democracy and Islam can co-exist. The victory of Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has implications for the Middle East. Some liberal Turks worry that “zealous elements” will push for a more Islamist agenda, but there is no reason to believe the AKP is “about to swerve into hardline Islamism”. I’m not so sure, says Amir Taheri in The Times. This fear prevented the majority of Turks from voting for the AKP and saw the proto-fascist MHP surge from nowhere to win 14% of the vote. Its leaders may dismiss concerns as ‘political paranoia’, but there is evidence the AKP is engaged in a “quiet purge” of opponents: judges and teachers of secularist persuasion have been demoted or had to retire. A “changing of the guard” has also affected the army and key public positions.
Erdogan must now quell fears by withdrawing the nomination of Abdullah Gul, his controversial foreign minister, as president, and seek a neutral candidate, says The Times. There are other pressing challenges, says Ian Traynor in The Guardian – the threat of an army coup, pressure for a military invasion of north Iraq to crush the Turkish Kurdish separatists there, and near-paralysis in EU-entry talks. Erdogan’s triumph could be short-lived.