Analysis: Recap Tayipp Erdogan Wins Seat in Turkey's Parliament After Five-Year Ban and is Expected to Become New Prime Minister

All Things Considered: March 9, 2003

LYNN NEARY, host:

Turkey is expected to get a new prime minister tomorrow, one who supports letting US troops use that country as a base for a possible invasion of Iraq. In a special election today, Recep Tayipp Erdogan won a parliamentary seat, making him now eligible to head the government. Erdogan is likely to form a Cabinet this week and, soon after, call on the parliament to reconsider whether to allow US troops to deploy inside the country. NPR's Guy Raz reports from the Turkish capital, Ankara.

GUY RAZ reporting:

Erdogan crushed his opponents, winning more than 85 percent of the popular vote in Siirt, where the residents of this poor region cheered wildly, knowing now they'll be represented in parliament by the country's prime minister.

SOUNDBITE OF CLAPPING; PEOPLE CHANTING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE

RAZ: `Erdogan, prime minister, Erdogan, prime minister,' they shouted.

For five years, the man who now heads Turkey's ruling Justice and Development party was banned from politics. In 1998, a court convicted him of violating the country's strict laws on secularism after he read a poem deemed pro-Islamic. Turkey's current prime minister, Abdullah Gul, always acknowledged he was only a caretaker. The moment Erdogan became eligible to run for a seat, Gul announced he'd make space for his party chief to lead the government. Tonight, Erdogan relished his victory. It was particularly symbolic for him because he originally read that pro-Islamic poem in Siirt, the town he now represents in parliament.

Mr. RECEP TAYIPP ERDOGAN (Parliament Member, Turkey): (Foreign language spoken)

RAZ: `Tonight, I thank the glorious Lord a thousand times,' Erdogan said. `The result of this election has produced a poetic outcome,' he added, a not-too-subtle reference to his previous ban from politics.

Erdogan is Turkey's first openly Islamic-oriented leader since 1997. In a country where the military is fiercely secular and fiercely protective of its political influence, Erdogan may have to take care not to offend. The generals have mounted coups before, some inspired by what they saw as Islamism creeping into government.

The generals now want Turkey's parliament to cooperate with the United States and allow up to 62,000 US troops to use Turkey as a transit point into northern Iraq. According to political scientist Hussein Baljou(ph), that question will be first on Erdogan's agenda.

Mr. HUSSEIN BALJOU (Political Scientist): I think, first of all, he will put this decision to his people. He says, `You guys, either you accept this or you go out; you fly.'

RAZ: When the parliament rejected the troop deployment measure last week, Erdogan was criticized for not exercising control over his back-benchers. Ersel Aydinli, a professor of international relations at Ankara's Bilkent University, says now that he'll become the official head of government, it will be easier for Erdogan to crack the whip.

Professor ERSEL IDENLING (Bilkent University): When Tayipp Erdogan becomes the prime minister, everybody will expect to see a larger control over the party because he's got the charisma. So in that sense, he might have a much better, you know, grab or the control of the party and the party vote even in the parliament.

RAZ: Tayipp Erdogan's already hinted he'll bring the motion back to parliament soon, maybe as early as next week. US ambassador to Turkey Robert Pearson met with Erdogan ahead of today's election and called on him to push for a revote before the 17th of March. Erdogan propelled to power on the engine of ideology, but he's rapidly emerging as a political pragmatist; a deal broker who understands his country could suffer economic and political consequences if it decides against working with Washington. Guy Raz, NPR News, Ankara.

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