By Assadollah Athari<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s take a closer look at these achievements.<\/p>\n
——— Political development<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/01_ATHARI99.jpg\" "\\"01_ATHARI99\\"")
The emergence of a new political elite in various governmental posts and institutions in recent years is a manifestation of the fact that the new political structure is now open to a broader spectrum of the country\u2019s elites. Earlier, the secular elite was always in power, and other academics and politicians were not allowed to have a say in the political process. But finally, in the 1950s, the Turkish Democratic Party was able to alter this equation.<\/p>\n
In recent years, the religious elite has emerged as a new driving force in Turkey. And Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan\u2019s AKP has actually provided the religious elite with a clear voice in the current administration.<\/p>\n
Even Turkey\u2019s minority Kurds, who were isolated for many decades, finally got a chance, and their candidates were allowed to run in the elections. The Kurdish politicians, who had successfully established a faction in the previous parliament, participated in the recent election as independent candidates. Earlier, Kurdish politicians were severely restricted. For example, Leyla Zana was imprisoned for 10 years for speaking Kurdish in the Turkish Parliament after taking her parliamentary oath. But now Turkey\u2019s Kurds have a clear voice in the political structure. Therefore, it can be said that Erdogan has broken very dangerous taboos in Turkish society.<\/p>\n
———– Economic development<\/p>\n
Turkey is currently experiencing nine percent economic growth, which is comparable to China. The AKP has played an important role in the economic advancement of Turkey, and especially in the country\u2019s energy issues. Turkey is now the world\u2019s seventeenth largest economy and the sixth largest economy in Europe, and it plans to attain a place among the top ten economic powers by 2023.<\/p>\n
———– Cultural development<\/p>\n
The AKP has managed to create a balance between the elements of Islam and the national identity. Moreover, it has successfully resolved Turkey\u2019s cultural disputes with Greece and Armenia. Indeed, the policy of zero tension with neighboring countries has created a congenial atmosphere for Turkey at the regional level.<\/p>\n
Given the public confidence which was manifested in the recent election, the people of Turkey were the best ones to judge the performance of the government over the past few years.<\/p>\n
The main supporters of the AKP in Turkey are the members of the Muslim bourgeoisie. The ideology of the party, its objectives, and also the ruling elite are three influential factors which led to the AKP winning over a large segment of the public in previous elections. Of course, Erdogan\u2019s charismatic leadership is also an important element in the party\u2019s popularity. Erdogan is a charismatic leader, not a populist ideologue. Populism has no place in Turkish civil society because the institutionalized political structure of Turkey does not tolerate such a way of thinking.<\/p>\n
Through the revision of the constitution in 1909, Turkish society set off on the path of modernization, and this gradually paved the way for the establishment of a new political structure. Thus, populist concepts and practices have been properly controlled in this structure.<\/p>\n
Erdogan\u2019s victory speech provided another important example of how the AKP won the election. In the speech, he promised to work together with other parties to pave the way for the drafting of a new constitution that would fulfill the Turkish people\u2019s demands for peace and justice.<\/p>\n
Assadollah Athari is a senior university lecturer and a researcher at the Center for Middle East Strategic Studies, which is based in Tehran.<\/p>\n
via tehran times : Factors behind the AKP\u2019s victory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Assadollah Athari The Justice and Development Party (AKP) won a decisive victory in the recent parliamentary election in Turkey. Many people believe that the main factors behind the AKP\u2019s third consecutive victory were the party\u2019s achievements in the political, economic, and cultural development of Turkey. Let\u2019s take a closer look at these achievements. ——— […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":36293,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[1211],"class_list":["post-36291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-turkey","tag-akp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36291\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}