Turkey's beleaguered Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) have emerged victorious from last week's local elections. Still, the AKP's triumph is unlikely to ameliorate the country's internal conflicts, much less revive its tarnished international standing.

The local elections were widely seen as a referendum on Erdogan. The AKP received 44 percent of the national vote and now controls 49 of Turkey's 81 metropolitan municipalities, including Istanbul and the capital, Ankara.

The main opposition force, the center-left Republican People's Party (CHP), received 26 percent and won only 13 municipalities.