In World War I, the British Empire fought to topple the nemesis Ottoman Empire to achieve its dream of an arc of influence that would stretch across India over to what is now Israel. With access to land routes and key waterways such as the Dardanelles and the Suez Canal, Britain would have no challengers. Fast forward to today, and while Washington would deny any such imperial designs, the arc of American alliance has achieved what even London in its heyday could not. A quarter of the world may have once lived under the neversetting British sun, but a much larger share today lives in countries that have earned the benefits of freedom and democracy, and many are willing to do their part in the U.S.-led coalition to defend them.

As the election news comes in from Istanbul this week, we are reminded of what a great nation Turkey has become. Ever since Ataturk in 1923 declared the end to the Ottoman Empire, exiled the Sultan, and defrocked the Caliph, Turkey has been the model for the world of an overwhelmingly Muslim country that equally is democratic, tolerant, and loyal to its friends. This is symbolized by its jets emblazoned with the Red Crescent training alongside those sporting the Star of David or the example of Turkey in hosting NATO’s southern command.

The election this week has been won by a political party that has its roots in Islam, though not in the kind of Islamism that has corrupted so much of the rest of the Muslim world. The Justice and Development Party may adjust the strict separation of mosque and state — women may, perhaps, some day be permitted to wear headscarves on university campuses, for example — but the key attraction of the party is its pledge to reform the cronyism and corruption that seeped back into Turkey following the reform era of Turgut Ozal.

Some will see the vote as a threat that Turkey could join the more primitive Muslim countries in preaching a hateful brand of Islam, but Turkey is no Saudi Arabia or Egypt. Turkey is a fully modern society, and the head of the victorious party, Tayyip Erdogan, was quick to assure, “Secularism is the protector of all beliefs and religions.” Visitors to Istanbul immediately know that they are not in only-Muslims-permitted Mecca; churches and synagogues — many hundreds of years old — share the skyline with the great mosques of the world.

Turkey is a Muslim country that actually holds elections to determine who will represent its people and with what policies. Regrettably, not one of the Arab countries that were once part of the Ottoman Empire has yet found an Ataturk to point them in a more confident, modern direction. America is fortunate indeed to have as an ally the world’s most admirable Muslim country. Already Turkish troops are leading the peacekeeping forces in Afghanistan. How much longer before the Turks once again set a firm example for the other Muslim countries of its former empire? We suspect that before the war on Islamism is over, Turkey’s role in the victory will loom large indeed.