In recent months Turkey has been quite a bit in the news- often for the wrong reasons. I visited Istanbul and Ankara after a gap of two and a half years and I got a different view of dynamics within the country from than that which is often portrayed in the international press.

The July parliamentary elections in Turkey resulted in a resounding majority for the Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (AK Parti, translating into Justice and Development Party, led by Prime Minister Recept Tayyip Erdogan.) The AK Parti won over 46% of the votes. The reason for the early election (before the Presidential election) was the controversy surrounding the Presidential nominee Abdullah Gul�€™s wife headscarf. It is hard to believe that such an issue could galvanise Turkish politics to the extent that it did. However, by early September, President Gul is installed as President in the Cankaya Palace and the AK Parti has won the vote of confidence in the Parliament. After not attending the installation of the President, the military seems to be coming around. Just a few days after the installation, the Chief of General Staff Gen. Ya�Ÿar Büyükanıt visited the Cankaya Palace to congratulate President Gul on his election. Thus, the standoff between the AK Parti and the military seems to be on the backburner, at least as of now.

However, an issue that could be the cause of further tension and polarisation in Turkish politics is the new constitution that is expected to be presented by the AK Parti leadership by the end of the year. The Parliament is expected to begin debate on this in October- it is currently being debated by academicians among a commission chaired by the very well known Professor of political science Ergun Ozbudun at Bilkent University. The key issues that are up for debate in the formation of the new constitution include the very meaning of Turkey as a secular country, interpretation of the phrase �€œAttaturk�€™s nationalism�€ and the importance of maintaining the description of a Turkish citizen. The current Constitution of Turkey was been drafted by the military in 1982 and the need to have a civilian drafted Constitution is more or less agreed upon. The role that the already fragmented opposition plays in this debate will be crucial.

With the victory of the AK Parti, the political map of Turkey seems to be set for the next few years. In the past, this party has focussed a lot on bringing about an economic transformation of Turkey. In the last five years the growth rate of Turkey has been above 7% per annum. More interestingly, many of the smaller traders and manufactures, especially in the rural areas have been strengthened by policy measures. In fact one of the reasons cited for the head scarf controversy is that women from the rural areas - from conservative religious backgrounds- have now been propelled into the economic sphere by the surge in prosperity. These women are happy to take to the market place, but it is more difficult for them to give up on their traditional attire- often worn over generations.

Mr Yasar Yakis, former Foreign Minister of Turkey and now Chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Commission with the EU gave us an insight into the multi-cultural and multi-ethnic character of Turkey. Apparently there are more Abkhazians, Bosnians, Georgians and Albanians in Turkey today than there are in Abkhazia, Bosnia, Georgia and Albania! These minorities have been able to carve out a niche for themselves. 

A lesser known aspect of Turkish economy revealed to us by Mr Egemen Bagis, Deputy Chairman of the AK Parti for Foreign Affairs that they Turkey already has a Customs Union with the European Union. This means Turkey is within the EU economic zone and can export and import to the European Union like any European Union member. Turkey is already the 17th largest economy in the world and Mr Bagis is confident that it will soon be a Trillion Dollar Economy.

Another interesting trend in Turkey is the setting up of private universities. In the past two decades, 24 new private universities have been founded, and they now comprise the unified higher education system in Turkey, along with 53 state universities. We were lucky to visit one of them- the Bahcesehir University, with its wonderful view of the Bosphorous. There are currently 91,000 students enrolled in private universities in Turkey. Running diverse programme from medicine and engineering to International finance and relations, the private universities are intent on making their students capable of competing with education offered anywhere else in the world.

In the last two and a half years since my last visit, Turkey is definitely showing signs of transforming itself- on the social, political and economic front. Some believe that it is the beginning of a new renaissance- one that has the potential to spread to other countries in the region- proving that a country with a majority Islamic population can leap forward in the modern world by creating democratic institutions that work. That Turkey is undergoing transformation is not under question; the question is how fast it can export its know-how to others in the region.