Catholic World News News Feature
Vatican expert pleased with Turkish election results July 23, 2007
A former Vatican representative in Turkey has said that the election in that country has produced "the best result for Europe and for the Christian churches."
Cardinal Sergio Sebastiani, who served as apostolic nuncio in Turkey from 1985 to 1994, told the Italian daily Corriere della Sera that the strong showing by incumbent Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) represented the best chance for a stable secular government in the country.
The Italian cardinal-- who now heads the Vatican prefecture for economic affairs-- expressed his support for a resumption of talks aimed at Turkish entry into the European Union.
Erdogan will hold a strong enough parliamentary majority to support a serious program of reform in Turkey, Cardinal Sebastiani said. But the AKP parliamentary strength will evidently fall short of two-thirds majority, and so the Islamic-based party will not have the strength to amend the country's constitution and challenge Turkey's commitment to secularity. A stable secular government, Cardinal Sebastiani said, would provide the best available options for Turkey's European neighbors and for the country's Christian minority.
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