State of Belief

UMIT BEKTAS / REUTERS

AT THE POLLS: Kemal Ataturk watches over voters in Ankara on July 22

My friend Ana (not her real name) is a wise and worldly middle-aged Turkish American who divides her time between Manhattan and Istanbul, where she works as a handler and translator for American journalists. She is a liberal, feminist, free-market Muslim, a defender of ethnic and religious pluralism and a proponent of Turkey's entry into the European Union. So I assumed she'd be thrilled by the resounding July 22 electoral victory of Turkey's pro-Western, pro-business, pluralist and moderate Muslim party, the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi, or AKP).

But when I phoned her after the...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!