Turkeyâs November 3, 2002 National Election (CRS Report for Congress)
| Release Date |
Nov. 14, 2002 |
| Report Number |
RS21355 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Carol Migdalovitz, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
In Turkey's November 3, 2002 national election, voters vented their frustrations over an
impoverishing recession, a painful International Monetary Fund program, and endemic corruption
by expelling the governing coalition parties and others. The Justice and Development Party (AKP),
which has Islamist roots, won by occupying the terrain of the majority center-right of Turkish
politics. It will form a government without its leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has been banned
because of an Islamist speech. AKP's highest priorities are economic recovery and accession
negotiations with the European Union. It might offer the United States a useful model of a Muslim
democracy, and its initially pragmatic foreign policy may be in line with U.S. aims regarding Iraq,
Cyprus, and the European Union. (See also CRS Report RL31794(pdf) , Iraq: Turkey and the
Deployment
of U.S. Forces .
