"Turkish Elections and the Iraq Wildcard
By Tracy Dove, Ph.D
Editor, The Russia News Service
July 22, 2007
The popular Turkish Prime Minister, Tayyip Erdogan, is somewhat of an enigma in this country that serves as a bridge between Europe and Asia- he is seen as reformer and Islamist, nationalist and European. This weekend's election victory for Erdogan is the first in which a ruling Turkish party has been strengthened after an election, and it leads analysts to believe that Erdogan might be able to further stoke the economy, get the country back on track for accession talks with the EU, but also defend Turkish conservative values such as lifting the ban on women's headscarves and crushing the Kurdish KPP that Ankara believes is now operating from northern Iraq. There may be several strategic compromises ahead for the new government, but for the moment Erdogan looks like he has the winning combination of being everything to everybody."
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