Erdogan strengthens secular and moderate Muslim presence

Erdogan strengthens secular and moderate Muslim presence

Published in the Arab News April 20, 2017

By Ray Hanania

In any other election, if someone received more than 51 percent of the vote (a 2 ½ percent margin) over a highly controversial issue, the mainstream news media would declare it a decisive victory and a “mandate.”

But the mainstream news media doesn’t apply the same standards of civil rights for the Muslim and Arab World that they apply to the West.

Last week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, one of the few truly Democratically elected leaders of the world’s 50 predominantly Muslim nations, won a referendum which expands his powers by eliminating the nation’s antiquated parliamentary system and implementing a new government similar to the one established by the United States.

Turkey has been a parliamentary system governed by a ceremonial President who appoints the country’s Prime Minister.

Many of his foes are concerned but Erdogan’s strategy is clearly intended to prevent Turkey from transforming into another religious state that could morph into a bastion of extremism.

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