Abdullah Gul has been sworn in as Turkey’s president reports the International Herald Tribune:

Turkey’s new, Islamic-rooted president on Tuesday praised the Muslim country’s secular system and pledged impartiality in a speech after being sworn in.

“Secularism — one of the main principles of our republic — is a precondition for social peace as much as it is a liberating model for different lifestyles,” Abdullah Gul said. “As long as I am in office, I will embrace all our citizens without any bias. I will preserve my impartiality with the greatest of care,” Gul said.

Whether Gul and his party will live up to that statement remains to be seen.  Note the IHP’s use of “Islamic-rooted” as a description. How much do you want to bet that the original article said “Islamist” before the editors got a hold of it? Oh well, they still did a better job than CNN, (h/t Jihadwatch):

Former Islamist Abdullah Gul has been elected president of Turkey following a contest that has split the nation and drawn opposition from the army.  Gul, the country’s current foreign minister, won the third round vote Tuesday at the Turkish parliament in Ankara, backed by 339 out of the 448 lawmakers who attended the session.

Gul, regarded as modernizer who has been key to Turkey’s negotiations with the European Union about entry, has been conciliatory towards his critics, vowing to maintain the traditions of secularism on which modern Turkey is built.

Spencer calls CNN’s report “Fantasy-based Analysis”, which is probably an accurate assessment. The elites in the media (and the European Union) want to believe Islam is peaceful, and a society which uses Islam as its political and judicial primer will be just as respectful of human rights and freedoms as any other. It’s a fantasy, but its a nice fantasy, so they seem content to believe it just a little longer.