L ast week Turkey may have woken up to an entirely different reality which could have been a nightmare for the country... The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) may have lost in the polls and the country may have been forced to live with a coalition government for the next four years...
Such a bad scenario would have landed Turkey in all sorts of difficulties both at home and abroad.
In the international scene Turkey would have lost its standing as the island of stability in a region that is suffering all kinds of conflicts and infernos.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu would have been hosting the G20 summit as two defeated and weakened leaders and thus the summit would become a non-event for Turkey.
The international adversaries of Turkey would be pilling up pressure on Turkey from Greece to Syria and from Cyprus to Armenia.
Terrorist organizations would have been given the green light to create more havoc in the country and thus fan the atmosphere of instability.
At home a bewildered nation would be hopelessly watching as the drama unfolded and Turkey fell into deeper instability on all fronts.
The economy would be falling apart and industries would be facing the deepest crisis of the past two decades. Businessmen who had delayed their payments and investment plans until after the elections with the hope that things would be better would be in deep panic facing huge international debts.
In the political front the Kurdish nationalists would be raising the flag of autonomy openly threatening the unity and territorial integrity of the country. The PKK would be piling up pressure and killing more soldiers and policemen.
Political bickering, intrigue and backstabbing would be the order of the day. A section of the media which was bent on destroying the AK Party and Erdoğan would be hard at work.
All in all "the day after" would simply be a catastrophe for the country.
The Turkish voters, with a wonderful sense of responsibility and foresight decided they would not push the country into an adventure and gave the AK Party a landslide victory and a commanding majority in Parliament.
So now Turkish leaders will be able to welcome the world leaders from a position of strength, Turkey will preserve its international standing as a rising star in its region and also a stability factor that will contribute to regional peace despite the odds.
Turkey now looks into the future with hope as it continues the process of forming a government and putting its house in order after a short period of uncertainty.
