Landslide Victory Hands Pro-European Party Power in Turkey

Turkey's Justice and Development party (AKP) has secured power with a landslide victory that will allow it to rule without a coalition and amend the constitution. Initial results gave the party 34 percent of the vote, allowing the AKP to form a single government with 360 seats in the 550-seat national assembly

The election victory means that the party, with deep Islamic roots, will get the chance to live up to the promises it made regarding the pursuit of EU membership for Turkey. The AKP made joining the European Union a priority throughout the election campaign.

Although describing itself as 'moderate' with political leanings towards 'conservative democrat,' the AKP has caused some concerns within Turkey and elsewhere due to its political background. The party was formed a year ago by members of previously banned Islamist groups, and its leader Reccep Tayyip Erdogan is currently banned from the country's national assembly and therefore cannot be named prime minister.

Erdogan was banned from holding an office in the country’s parliament because he recited a religious poem in public three years ago that was construed to stir up inter-racial hatred.

Turkey and the EU

Despite the victory of a pro-EU party, the European Union is still not completely convinced that Turkey can be considered a candidate for enlargement. The Turkish parliament passed new laws to conform to European norms in August this year. It also abolished the death penalty and extended cultural rights to the country's Kurdish minority. However, a recent Amnesty International report to the EU suggests that systematic torture and human rights abuses are still rife in Turkish jails despite the reforms.

In its regular progress report, the European Commission said, "the reforms contain a number of significant limitations on the full enjoyment of fundamental rights and freedom," and added Turkey had yet to meet the political agenda to start negotiations. Despite increased pressure from Washington to give NATO's only Muslim member an accession date, EU leaders are likely to wait until December to make their final decision.

It seems that the European Union itself has little cause for concern as the AKP continues to voice pro-European support. Britain welcomed the election result and has called for a date to be set to discuss Turkey's accession. So too has Greece, which believes that its problems with its neighbor over the divided island of Cyprus, will be better addressed from within the EU.

German reactions

The most important European player with regards to Turkey’s entrance in the EU is Germany. Historically the Germans have been among the most cautious about Turkey's membership, but in the last few weeks many politicians have warmed up to the idea.

The Social Democratic-led government has recently come out in favor of Turkey joining the EU, and on Monday a spokesperson in the office of foreign affairs called the election results the "first positive signal" in the formation of a stable government. “We hope, that the traditionally close and friendly ties between Germany and Turkey will improve” with the new government, the speaker told reporters. On Nov. 27 the Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, is scheduled to meet with Chancellor Gerhard Schröder to discuss entry into the EU.

The conservative opposition parties in the Bundestag, however, remain skeptical. Angela Merkel, party leader for the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), said on Monday that Turkey’s membership in the EU is “not on the agenda.” The CDU is also not in favor of using the EU summit in Copenhagen in December as a forum for discussing a concrete date for Turkey’s entrance, Merkel said.

Edmund Stoiber, State Premier for Bavaria is adamantly against extending EU membership to Turkey. On Monday he told reporters that Turkey is “politically and economically still far away from meeting the requirements for entrance in the EU.”

Islamist Party on Europe’s edge

European reactions to the election result from barely disguised nervousness over the rise to power of a party formed by the deputies of an outlawed Islamist organization. Observers believe that a party with Islamic roots could lead to instability and tensions in the region with pro-Islamist members within the AKP becoming dissatisfied with the non-confrontational attitude adopted by leaders such as Erdogan.

However, despite allegations to the contrary, the AKP has consistently denied that its politics are based on an Islamist agenda. On Sunday night, Erdogan, having promised voters during the campaign that he had turned his back on his Islamist past, moved swiftly to reassure the country that his party would accelerate Turkey's efforts to join the EU.

"AKP is ready to take responsibility to build up the political will to accelerate the European Union entry process, to strengthen the integration of our economy with the world economy and to implement the economic program," he said in a public address.

In a bid to allay international fears, the vice-chairman of the AKP, Yasar Yakis, also released a statement promising to speed up work on meeting the criteria for EU membership ahead of the crucial European summit in Copenhagen next month.

Yakis reiterated the party's desire to look west. The former Turkish ambassador to the United Nations told the British daily "The Guardian," "Our first priority in government will be to complete the framework document for the Copenhagen criteria. We don't want to leave any pretext for Europe to say that Turkey will not be admitted."