The good news is that the Government has shown a willingness to negotiate — toughly, but seriously — on the basis of principles concerning the sharing of power and wealth that resulted in the Naivasha Peace Agreement.

That toughly worded statement was seen as a veiled butunmistakable warning that the military was prepared to intervene if Gul’s election as president resulted in an effort by the Erdogangovernment to push its Islamic agenda or take measures thatthreatened the secular nature of the Turkish politicalorder.