Turkey’s election wounds president and opens political uncertainty

ISTANBUL — Turkey’s president and his political allies began the difficult process of damage assessment Monday after being upended by a dramatic election shift that wiped away their hold on parliament.

As uncertainty shrouded the makeup of a future government, Turkey's main stock index fell by 8 percent and its currency, the lira, dropped to a record low against the dollar.

The brave new world of Turkish politics was most clearly illustrated by the rise of a party dominated by ethnic Kurds, whose homeland was once the stage of a three-decade insurgency. In a historic first, a Kurdish party surged into the Grand National Assembly in Ankara.

The brave new world of Turkish politics was most clearly illustrated by the rise of a party dominated by ethnic Kurds, whose homeland was once the stage of a three-decade insurgency. In a historic first, a Kurdish party surged into the Grand National Assembly in Ankara.

It marks a moment in the evolution of democracy in NATO-member Turkey as well as a direct challenge to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ambitions to consolidate power.

"This is a nuclear explosion in Turkish politics," said Bulent Aliriza, an expert on Turkey at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
Erdogan had been seeking a supermajority to force through constitutional change. But his center-right Justice and Development Party — known by the Turkish abbreviation AKP — secured less than 41 percent of the vote in Sunday’s election with 99 percent of ballots counted, state media reported.

Although it remains the biggest party in the country, the AKP suffered its worst result since 2002. It was projected to lose its majority in parliament, an astonishing turn of events for a party that has dominated Turkish politics for almost 15 years with a mix of strong-arm rule and emphasis on Turkey’s Muslim identity after decades of staunchly secular and pro-Western policies.

The AKP was expected to fall far short of the 330 seats needed to force a national referendum on Erdogan's plan to scrap Turkey's parliamentary structure for a presidential system, with him at the top. - Read More at washingtonpost

Turkey’s election wounds president and opens political uncertainty