Turkey's elections

Published: July 23, 2007, 10:02 am

The protracted Turkish elections in which secularists and the military have battled to maintain the legacy of Ataturk, have come to some sort of conclusion with the election of Erdogan's Islamic rooted Justice and Development (AK) party. The outcome is seen by The Times as a dismissal of concerns that Erdogan, whose wife wears a headscarf, would "launch a creeping plan to Islamise the state" Michael Binyon says the issue is more nuanced than a simple ideological tussle between religion and secularism and will prove to be a test case for the legitimacy of political Islam "The implications go far beyond the plains of Anatolia or the teeming bazaars of Istanbul. This election is being perceived across the Muslim world as a test case for political Islam...[it] will show whether Turkey can go forward with both reforming Islam or with nationalist secularism, or whether compromise between forces shaping a country strategically placed between the West and the Muslim world

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