(Reuters | Istanbul) - As Islamist groups emerge triumphant inTunisia, Egypt and Morocco, Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party under Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan seems decided to act as their mentor — and to throw its weight behind the Syrian opposition seeking to oust President Bashar al-Assad, a former ally.

Ankara’s evolving response to the upheavals of the Arab Spring is broadly in harmony with its NATO and European Union allies, who had balked at the AKP’s previous “zero problems with the neighbors” policy, that indulged Syria and its ally Iran, and which some derided as a neo-Ottoman turn away from Turkey’s long-standing Western ties.

Both Turkey and its Western allies now hope the success of the AKP in transiting from Islamist roots to a sort of Muslim version of Christian Democracy, and in running a dynamic economy that has doubled the income of its people, will be an attractive model to Arab Islamist parties now coming to the fore. [Read more...]