Local election results from the perspective of the Middle East

Turkish democracy went through one of its most critical and tense election periods. Despite the corruption allegations and widespread wiretappings, Turkish voters stood behind Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as steady as a rock. Although the AK Party is in its 12th successful-if-tiring year of rule, it broke a record by surpassing its voting percentage in the previous local elections.

The question of why Turkish voters totally ignored the propaganda against Prime Minister Erdoğan keeps political observers and critics busy in the long term. This is because many of them previously made statements such as, "Erdoğan has no chance this time," "He cannot rule Turkey." Now they must sit down and draw a line through their words. Namely, they will disregard what they said and delve into the new process ahead of us.

Besides, the local elections were held in an atmosphere of a general election and were closely followed by people in the Middle East. As observed in the previous examples of Egypt and Palestine, millions of people who were forced to change their choices and were exposed to strikes and pressure were watching the recent events in Turkey with great anxiety and apprehension.

The most common question was, "Will the current rule that came with the public's free will be unseated by traps?"

People in the Middle East feared that Turkish politics would be shaped by illegal wiretappings.

For good reason, they sunk into desperation because the last democracy within this territory was nearly strangled.

After the announcement of election results, cheers were voiced form Cairo, Gaza and Tunisia to the Balkan cities of Skopje, Pristina and Sarajevo. Thousands of people poured into the streets to celebrate Turkey's victory. The celebrations in various cities lasted until morning.
These repercussions show that Turkey was considered to be the final hope. When considering that the civil uprisings in the Middle East were brought to an end against the public's will, Turkey should remain their final hope.

These celebrations indicate the critical point at which the circles that tried to shape Turkish politics through illegal means cannot succeed. Turkey is not composed merely of the people within its borders.

There are Turkish people who are not only concerned about Turkey. Our country represents hope, a dream and power in this region.

Although this power may not always be influential in politics, people bear good feelings and a bright future when talking about Turkey.

People who had attempted to shape politics for the sake of their interests and crushed after the local elections did not understand Turkish and the Middle Eastern people. They believed they could easily transform Turkey into chaos similar to the Egyptian coup or the bloodshed in Syria.

They calculated everything "to unseat PM Erdoğan." However, the public was aware of this monkey business. They protected and will continue to protect their own will to the bitter end.

Turkey's recent poll adventure and democracy fight are inspiring desperate and weary Middle East people. No one has the right to destroy this hope and inspiration.

The local elections results released yesterday clearly show that Turkey will never allow this. Yet, of course for the people who wish to see.