Turkish Politics

Good. Get it up you Recep.

Sounds like the Kurdish Party has also got in.

So, potentially we can start seeing a rolling-back of Erdogan's soft authoritarianism? Or will he continue to try to centralize authority?

Maybe he'll try, but he will need one or more coalition partners which will exact concessions, I think.

He is still constrained by the constitution and now he can't change it at will, so at least his march to dictatorship (seriously, the number of presidential republics that haven't gone in that direction can probably be counted on one hand. It's not a particularly good model, especially for young democracies) will be slowed.

edited 7th Jun '15 7:51:17 PM by Rationalinsanity

Hmmm. Since he can presumably no longer count on a pliant Parliament, the real question now is this: does he currently have enough power to end-run a possibly recalcitrant legislature?

Turkey and Religious Minorities. Said minorities are, of course, celebrating the recent election results.

"As the daily Hurriyet reported, the new crop of deputies includes at least four people of Christian background: Selina Dogan, an Armenian lawyer who stood for the CHP, the secular-nationalist opposition party; Markar Esayan, a journalist with Armenian roots who ran on an AK party ticket; Garo Paylan, another Istanbul Armenian, who stood for the HDP; and Erol Dora, a lawyer of Syrian christian orthodox background. On top of that, two HDP deputies are Yazidis, members of another religious minority that has suffered terribly in neighbouring Iraq at the hands of Islamic State.

The CHP ranks also include one Roma, and a good number of Alevis whose practice of Islam differs from the state-encouraged Sunni norm. The female share of parliamentary seats has risen to 16% from 9%, mainly thanks to the HDP's good gender balance; and the lady parliamentarians range from devout wearers of the Muslim headscarf to women who totally reject such garb."

Diversity is empowering itself in Turkey.

Nothing substantial to add other than: well done Turkey for taking a step back away from dictatorship. No-one should stay in power for so long, no matter who they are.

A note of caution: the 2nd placed party was the CHP, which is Ataturk's party, who we like, but the third placed party was the MHP, a nationalist and generally unpleasant bunch who 16% of the vote.

The real question is whether or not a coalition government can be formed with this current set of people.

In regards to Turkey's problems with Armenia, due to the Armenian Genocide and the former's relations with Azerbaijan, the latter's arch-rival, is there anyone who want to make amends with Armenia?

The normalization process between Turkey and Armenia was suspended when Erdogan placed conditions on it (namely a negotiated solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict). That was in 2010. It has never been resumed since.

So how has the country been getting along with Ahmet Davutoğlu in the Prime Minister's seat and Erdogan in the largely ceremonial position (according to The Other Wiki) of president? Has Davutoğlu shown signs of being his own man? I've heard about Erdogan being very much at the forefront of these elections, but what about the rest of the time so far?

edited 9th Jun '15 6:26:23 AM by betaalpha

I was going by party, as in, which party are the ones wanting to kiss and make up with Armenia.

Just the Kurdish faction. Apart from them and the ruling party, ones choices are either the uber nationalists or the Kemalists, neither of whom have an interest in making amends with Armenia on that issue.

And I'd take it that, despite winning the majority, the Kurdish People's Democratic Party aren't going to have their way with Armenia, aren't they?

They didn't win majority....

Sorry, meant getting representation in Parliament.

A big no on that. Armenians themselves, obviously, dont vote in Turkish elections, so they have no constituency there.

It would be a waste of political capital, the Kurds/Turkish left have bigger problems.

More interested in seeing how this affects foreign policy in the middle east, which will change depending on the coalition.

A tad more aligned with the secular side of things, I imagine.

That might be how it is in domestic policy, but each party is radically different in foreign policy, even between the seculars.

Well, I imagine a little more pressure on the regime to stop undermining the Syrian Kurds as much.

Only from the Kurds. Not the other two opposition parties. That and the AKP has a better history with the Kurds than any other non-Kurd party.