AP News Alert: Turkish Elections
Jul 22 12:14 PM US/Eastern
UPDATE: The results are in.
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Turkey’s Islamic-rooted ruling party is leading parliamentary elections with one-third of the votes counted, CNN-Turk television says.
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Turkey’s Islamic-rooted ruling party was headed toward a parliamentary majority Sunday with nearly half the vote counted, a private news network reported.
CNN-Turk reported after polls closed that the ruling Justice and Development Party won 48.4 percent of the vote, with 58.4 percent of the votes counted, in elections viewed as a key showdown between religious and secular forces. Turkey’s NTV television had similar results.
CNN-Turk projected that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erodogan’s party would win 46.9 percent of the total vote, or 334 seats in the 550- member Parliament.
The station based the projection on a survey of 400 polling stations and gave a 1.5 percent margin of error.
The main opposition group, the Republican People’s Party, was in second place with 19 percent of the actual votes counted, the station said.
The election is viewed as pivotal in determining the balance between Islam and secularism in the nation of more than 70 million. The Justice and Development Party has been accused of plotting to scrap Turkey’s secular traditions, despite its openness to the West.
This is a breaking news update. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.
ANKARA, Turkey (AP)—Turkey’s Islamic-rooted ruling party led parliamentary elections Sunday with 39.2 percent of the votes counted, CNN-Turk television reported. channel. The election is viewed as pivotal in determining the balance between Islam and secularism in the nation of more than 70 million.
The Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan won 49.5 percent of the votes, the station said after polls closed.
Turkey’s NTV television had similar results.
The main opposition group, the Republican People’s Party, was in second place with 17.2 percent.
The Justice and Development Party has been accused of plotting to scrap Turkey’s secular traditions, despite its openness to the West.
Be respectful of others and their opinions. Inflammatory remarks and inane leftist drivel will be deleted. It ain’t about free speech, remember you’re in a private domain. My website, my prerogative.
If you can't handle using your real email address, don't bother posting a comment.
And who didn’t see that comming….
July 22nd, 2007 at 9:18 amUH OH! that just projects the state of affairs in 2007 Turkey. heard it was leaning that way but this is kind of shocking
July 22nd, 2007 at 9:30 amKurt:
Spend some time over at Jihadwatch….Bob Spencer has been watching this tragedy unfold for quite some time….
July 22nd, 2007 at 9:48 amTheir military will never let the Islamists come to power, they’ll overthrow any government they try to set up that isn’t secular.
July 22nd, 2007 at 10:06 amYeah i have read things about it here and there but didnt know it was that prevelant
July 22nd, 2007 at 10:30 amWTF?!? This is unfortunate. Make some room on the list for another screwed up situation. This pisses me off.
July 22nd, 2007 at 12:20 pmAttaturk took Turkey kicking and screaming away from being an Islamist backwards country into a modern, secular one and now Erdogan is proceeding to try and undo it all.
July 22nd, 2007 at 1:11 pmGreat…
Right next door to Iraq, too.
Now watch the Lefties fight to have Turkey granted EU membership.
July 22nd, 2007 at 1:40 pmThere has always been an element of jihadism in Turkey. Attaturk got his rep by comitting genocide against Greek and other Christians and non-Muslims.
I can’t dismiss his history. The only point worth making is that his version of government is the only realistic solution for the Mideast. I mean besides dictatorship.
Moderating Islam and leaving Sharia out of the government was a good idea.
Unfortunately, people throughout the mideast have seen secular governace as a failure and are embracing Sharia law and Theocracy. It is not a short-term trend. This trend will continue to be embraced even by Muslim moderates, unless we can prove that we have the staying power, the might and the will, to defeat Jihadism at its sources: Iran, Syria, Pakistan, and Saudi.
July 22nd, 2007 at 1:40 pmHi,
Dang…this is not good for the world at all. I don’t know what to say.
Peace,
July 22nd, 2007 at 2:01 pmDan2
http://iraqsinconvenienttruth.com/
This is another of those rural-urban battles, and the rural is winning. The peasants come to the city and vote the way they did at home. And the Islamic Peasants’ next target for occupation is the EU, already in progress.
July 22nd, 2007 at 2:03 pmOkay… I gotta ask Dan and Kurt… what’s with the name extensions? Are one of you “Infidel” in the other threads? You are confusing me.
July 22nd, 2007 at 2:53 pmI took the moniker, because in here to the Jihadis we are all infidels. So why hide it? I choose to faunt it…right in their faces….
July 22nd, 2007 at 3:01 pmLadyAngler, I always go by Kurt(the infidel) and so does Dan as far as i Know..not sure who that is going by just Infidel. reminder to people, use it as an extension off your name so we dont get confused
I am an infidel and proud of it
July 22nd, 2007 at 3:52 pmWell Dan2, that was an interesting link. It is a dark commentary on the jihadist threat that even their mentors face. Not good news for the region.
I see a day comming when our only option will be to use nuclear weapons to stop them. I give it less than 5 years,
before that happens.
If Israel is attcked again this year with Ohmert in charge, that nuclear option might be excercised sooner rather than later. I don’t believe that Israel could sustain any kind of advantage with poor leadership and being attacked from all sides. It ain’t 1967 or even 1973.
Golda Meir, Moshe Dyan and Begin are all gone and Ariel Shimon is near death.
Look out Jack, if summertime gets really hot for Israel.
July 22nd, 2007 at 4:23 pm