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For the complete article text, please visit: http://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/turkey-regional-powerbroker-4681/ Turkey: Regional Powerbroker? The successful blend of Islam, democracy, a dynamic economy, and significant historical weight make Turkey uniquely qualified to assume a powerful role in the region. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Turkey has positioned itself as a major regional mediator for the Middle East and greater Muslim world. Turkey has been a democratic country since 1922, when Mustafa Kemal Atatürk founded the Republic of Turkey from the ruins of the Ottoman Empire. Atatürk’s vision of modernization took the form of various Western-minded reforms, the most important of which was a stringent emphasis on secularism, which was meant to subvert the Islamic influence that had pervaded Ottoman society. To this end, Atatürk adopted a legal system based on Swiss Civil Code, a unified, secular education system, and replaced the Arabic script used for Turkish with a Latin-based one. With a population that is approximately 99% Muslim, Turkey is unique among its neighbours in having achieved a secular, democratic state. For the complete article text, please visit: http://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/turkey-regional-powerbroker-4681/