Turkey's ruling Islamic-oriented Justice and Development party (AK) has emerged the clear winner from parliamentary elections, indicating the public is happy with the government's successful economic program and pro-European stance.
The electorate seems to have given scant regard to the opposition's fears that the AK party plans to Islamize Turkey by stealth. But tensions remain on that issue, and the army, the guarantor of the Turkish Republic's secular status, has not signaled its attitude toward continued AK rule.
By unofficial figures, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's AK party has taken nearly half the votes cast in the July 22 elections, putting it well ahead of its nationalist and secularist rivals and giving it a comfortable majority in parliament...
Here's the rest of this Radio Free Europe report with more on this key development for not only Turkey, but for Europe and the Middle East as well.
