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Thursday, April 03, 2014

Turkey’s elections: Be merciful, great Sultan | The Economist

Be merciful, great Sultan
After his unexpectedly big win, Recep Tayyip Erdogan should be magnanimous
Apr 5th 2014 | From the print edition

IT WAS a triumph by any standards. In Turkey’s local elections on March 30th, the ruling Justice and Development (AK) party took over 45% of the vote. Although the results are contested in 41 cities including Ankara, the capital, AK held on easily to Istanbul. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister, had turned these elections into a referendum on himself and his government. The past 12 months have seen a veritable maelstrom of protests and corruption scandals, a controversial clampdown on judges, prosecutors and the media, and a ban on YouTube as well as one on Twitter that the constitutional court has ruled illegal. For Mr Erdogan to do even better than pollsters expected has confounded his opponents.

More:Turkey’s elections: Be merciful, great Sultan | The Economist