Turkish media reflect on AKP victory

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Turkish newspaper front pages
Image caption,

Turkish pro-government newspaper Sabah hails a "ballot box revolution" while Hurriyet's front page headline refers to the "decision of the ballot box"

Turkish media reaction to the AKP's decisive election win is clearly split along the pro-government/opposition fault-line.

The state-run TV channel TRT Haber and the pro-government stations Kanal 24 and Star have been leading on the AKP's triumph and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's victory speech.

The pro-government channels also highlight President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's statement in which he says that the Turkish people had given a "strong response" to what he describes as "the terrorist organization" - the banned Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK).

The pro-opposition Fox TV, on the other hand, focuses on divisions in Turkish society, saying that while one part of electorate is celebrating victory, the other part is mourning.

Another pro-opposition channel, CNN Turk, showed Faik Tunay, a former MP from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), saying that opposition parties needed to "think long and hard" about the reasons behind their continuing failure to appeal to the Turkish people.

'Vote for stability'

A similar divide can be seen in the Turkish press. Pro-government papers hailed the AKP's win as an endorsement of its policies and a vote for stability, while anti-government papers warned that the party's tighter grip on power could lead to more repressive rule.

The mass-circulation daily Hurriyet - which has come under pressure from Mr Erdogan and the AKP in recent months - opts for the relatively neutral headline "The decision of the ballot box".

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Recep Tayyip Erdogan's AKP has regained its parliamentary majority

Another mass-circulation daily, Milliyet, says that the "landslide" result will enable the AKP to govern alone.

Several pro-AKP papers go so far as to proclaim the outcome a "revolution". Aksam calls it the "November revolution", while Sabah refers to it as the "Ballot box revolution".

Pro-Islamic papers are jubilant in tone. Yeni Safak hails what it describes as a "magnificent victory", while Yeni Akit offers its "congratulations to the Muslim world".

The pro-government tabloid Gunes says that "Turkey has won".

'Victory of fear'

Secular, pro-opposition and pro-Kurdish papers accuse the AKP of playing on the people's fears of civil strife in its election campaign.

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Opposition paper Cumhuriyet declares a "victory of fear" while leftist Taraf said that Erdogan's "chaos plan" had worked

The anti-AKP Cumhuriyet describes the result as a "victory of fear", and the resounding opposition defeat as an "earthquake".

The secular tabloid Sozcu says that "terror has increased", while the leftist Taraf says that what it calls Mr Erdogan's "chaos plan" worked to his advantage.

Meanwhile, the pro-Kurdish Ozgur Gundem predicts a "new era of struggle".

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