"Understanding AKP: Perceptions and Misperceptions in America
Nicholas Danforth
Wednesday , 01 August 2007
Given that Turkish opinion about the AK Party is so deeply divided, it should come as no surprise that informed American opinion is divided as well. On the question of whether the AKP poses a threat to secularism in Turkey, a handful of commentators have come down firmly on the side of the Turkey’s secular opposition, while the majority – in the media, government and foreign policy community – believe that the AKP is an important force for democracy and liberalism in Turkey. Unfortunately, few of those writing in support of the AKP appear to grasp why the party’s success has raised such concern in Turkey, while the party’s opponents have not articulated these concerns in a way that an American audience is likely to understand."
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