Turkey is an old nation but a young democracy. After nine centuries of autocracy, it has known representative government for less than a decade. Its vigorous burst toward freedom has been the wonder of the undemocratic Middle East.
Last May, in the second free election in Turkey's history, the governing Democratic Party honestly gave the people a chance to throw it out; instead the Democrats were triumphantly reinstalled with a staggering majority: 504 out of 541 Parliament seats.
The overwhelming size of the mandate disquieted some of the newborn democracy's best friends: such...