ATHENS - Greek Prime Minister Costas Caramanlis on Monday hailed the stunning election win by Turkey's governing party, as Greek papers called the victory a slap to the Turkish secular military that will change regional relations.
"I congratulate mister Erdogan on the success in yesterday's (Sunday) election and I hope it would contribute to Turkey fulfilling all the obligations it has taken on its way to the European Union membership," Caramanlis told journalists in Sarajevo.
"A democratic Turkey is in everyone's interest, primarily in the interest of its people, but also in the interest of the entire region and Europe," said Caramanlis, who was in Sarajevo to meet his Bosnian counterpart and to attend the re-opening ceremony of the once war ravaged parliament building, reconstructed with the help of Greek aid money.
The elections in Turkey on Sunday saw Erdogan's Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) increase its share of the popular vote by more than 12 points from 2002 to 46.4 percent -- the largest for any single party since 1969.
Greek newspapers on Monday meanwhile called the AKP electoral win a slap to Turkey's secular military, which had accused the party of seeking to undermine the country's secular system and threatened to step in to defend it, and said it would radically change regional relations.
"The new Turkish political scene hides traps that demand we adapt our policies," left-leaning Ta Nea wrote in an editorial.
"It is clear that for Turkey and for Turkish-Greek relations, the situation is now entirely different. To find out if it is better, we must wait for the powerful Erdogan's first moves."
Other papers wrote of the balancing act Erdogan will confront as his party faces opposition from secularists and nationalists.
"The new government is obliged now to find a delicate equilibrium" between the military, nationalists and the concerns of Washington, Ethnos newspaper wrote.
07/23/2007 12:55 GMT