Turkey: Turkish Voters Head Into Key Elections

Turkish voters head to the polls on July 22 to elect a new parliament, in what some commentators are calling a "watershed" moment for the nation of 70 million.

In many ways, this election will be the ultimate test of Turkey's maturity as a modern democracy.

The atmosphere is tense ahead of the vote, as the secular-military establishment, hard-line nationalists, Islamist-rooted politicians, and Kurdish representatives all battle on the campaign trail, trying to shape the direction that Turkey will take.

With so many opposing factions expected to make it into parliament, the question is: will these sworn rivals be able to negotiate through their differences, or will they drive the country off a cliff?

Amberin Zaman, the Turkey correspondent for "The Economist" magazine, told RFE/RL from Istanbul that it's anybody's guess.

"It depends on how you look at it. You could say the glass is half full or half empty. You could say this is a great opportunity for all these different fragments of society to get together within the framework of the parliament -- a legitimate political framework, rather than violence -- to sit down and thrash out their differences and build some kind of consensus that allows this country to move forward," Zaman said.

"On the other hand, you could say we're going to end up seeing people throttling each other and God knows where all of this will lead," she continued. "It may even lead to a fresh round of elections, or perhaps the military may feel compelled to make its presence felt in a very visible form. It's hard to say."

Defending Secular Tradition

The fact that elections are taking place in July is a reflection of the tensions already rocking Turkish society. Originally, the polls were not due until November.

But Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who heads the Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP), called the snap poll after a confrontation with the powerful military.

That happened back in April, after Erdogan nominated his political ally, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, to be Turkey's next president. Gul is a devout Muslim and his wife wears a head scarf.

This was too much for Turkey's generals, who see themselves as guardians of the country's secularist tradition, as laid down by republic founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk more than 80 years ago.

The military threatened to intervene against the AKP-led government, saying Turkey was drifting toward Islamic fundamentalism.

Many saw that as no idle threat. Three time before -- the last time in 1980 -- the Turkish military has overthrow civilian governments it did not like.

Erdogan withdrew Gul's nomination. But in calling for early elections, he threw down the gauntlet to the military. And his strategy appears to have paid off, according to Zaman.

"There are a lot of people who believe that the military's statement against the AK party has added to AK's popularity. In fact, AK is playing the martyrdom card big-time. It's going around and telling people: