Competing visions for Turkey's future
On Sunday, voters weigh the ruling party's strong economic record against fears of a growing Islamist agenda.
from the July 20, 2007 edition
Page 3 of 3
On the campaign trail
Under that shadow of uncertainty, parties are promising everything from slashing fuel prices to executing the captured Kurdish guerrilla leader Abdullah Ocalan.
AKP politicians cast themselves as the party of the people, noting that the main opposition, Republic People's Party (CHP), is against a popular vote for president. Currently, the parliament chooses the president.
The presidential palace "belongs to the public, not me or anyone else," Gul said, as the crowd chanted, "We are proud of you!"
But opposition politicians have taken issue with the premier. "Which Turkey is proud of you?" asked Devlet Bahceli, of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), on the campaign trail this week. "The people who put lots of dollars into their assets? Or the people who are going door-to-door for a piece of bread?"
Such criticism carries little weight at the rally. "The salaries of the people have increased; there are so many opportunities," says a white-haired AKP supporter, who gave only his first name, Ugur. "For other parties, it's only talk, but [AKP politicians] really do it."
He says fears of an Islamist agenda are overblown. "This party wants to bring balance," says Ugur. "With Erdogan, Turkey will not be like Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan."
Turkey's business elite are more equivocal.
"Today our bourgeoisie are [torn]," writes columnist Taha Akyol in the Milliyet newspaper. "Their heads are for economic improvement. But their hearts are near the CHP, because they believe that secularism is in danger."
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