This is a wrongheaded analysis

Submitted by Jeff H. (Turkey), Jun 12, 2011 at 14:02

The elections held today were not "free and fair". The 10% threshold rule functions to prevent the Kurdish people and their party, the BDP, from acquiring seats in parliament proportionate to the number of votes they receive. As an American living in Istanbul, your fears about the AKP are misguided -- although I think the prime minister does tend to act like a dictator. Most of his posturing against Israel is to feed his own ego, to give him a boost among the Mid East states, and most importantly, just to get votes. Importantly, trade levels, despite some rather harsh rhetoric from politicians of both countries, have continued to increase since the Mavi incident last year .

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