Turkey's Islamic (r)evolution

Published: July 23, 2007, 8:29 am

Well, kids can dream, can't they? I'd say global tensions rose ever so slightly yesterday when Turkey's Islamic party easily took national elections. Turkey's geopolitical importance is the reason the U.S. refuses to call the slaughtering of up to 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Turks a genocide. But will it remain a friend?The vote could have far-reaching consequences for Turkey's engagement with the West, including its drive to become the first Muslim-dominated country to join the European Union. Though secularist parties have been cool to that idea, the AKP has vowed to press ahead with the bid despite early rebuffs."With this vote, Turkey said no to insularity, no to closing in on itself," said Cengiz Candar, a prominent political columnist.The moderate and officially secular country, which is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is viewed as a strategic bridge to a Muslim world increasingly mistrustful of the West, particularly the United States. Successive

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