BY SEMIH IDIZ
MILLIYET- The only surprise of yesterday's elections was the AKP's margin of victory, because the outcome was about as widely predicted. Thus, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will be able to form another single-party government, and won't have to resign. However, the AKP didn't get enough votes to change the Constitution, which means that the voters didn't give it a blank check.
The CHP, the real loser of the elections, will continue its role as the main opposition party. But it won't take much time to see the uneasiness within the party after the election outcome.
As many expected, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) managed to get into Parliament. There are many reasons behind its rise, including negative remarks from the European Union and escalating PKK terrorism.
This is an important message to the EU and the US to understand what kind of a social reaction leaving Turkey alone on a crucial issue like the PKK can have. The MHP's deputies will constantly bring this up in Parliament.
But there's no need to make too much of the MHP's success. Nationalism is seen as important here, but though the AKP was branded a traitor by MHP, it still got about 47% of the votes.
This will give the AKP the necessary push to find creative solutions to important problems. The voters said they wanted stability, showing that they expect that problems will be solved. They told the AKP to act flexibly.
This shows that new developments can be expected in a number of issues such as ties with the EU, northern Iraq, Cyprus, and the Kurdish issue. Meanwhile, the AKP may be expected to put more efforts into overcoming the breakdown in EU reforms, because the voters, through so many voting for the AKP, showed they supported the EU process.
I'd like to conclude with a personal view of the elections. There wasn't much enthusiasm about them, but also no one can deny the high turnout. The nation showed in these elections they don't want any more bickering. In the end, our democracy won. Our hope is that the AKP, whose rule will continue, the CHP, continuing as the opposition, plus the MHP and the independent deputies understand the nation's will and take a conciliatory stance.
If they can do this, Turkey, which has taken a significant step ahead, will win."