Thursday, September 16, 2010

Out with the Old in Turkey - TIME

"Out with the Old in Turkey
By Grenville Byford

In a referendum on Sept. 12, 58% of Turkish voters approved a raft of constitutional changes. Was this just another round in the Islamist vs. secularist battle for Turkey's soul? And since the Islamists won, will Turkey, led by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party, or AK Party, accelerate its supposed turn from the West, as some will no doubt claim? Actually, no. The referendum is part of a profound generational change: a younger cohort in Turkey's politics, the military and the legal system whose members favor democracy is steadily pushing aging autocrats from center stage."

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