LONDON — It was not a tactful way to start out his new job as a Turkish government spokesman, but Suat Kiniklioglu did cut to the heart of the matter.

He summed up the reaction in other Muslim countries to the outcome of the Turkish elections July 22 as asking: "What the hell did the Turks do right that we didn't do? How come they can manage a predominantly Muslim population, negotiate (for membership) with the European Union, and have a workable democracy while we're stuck with these idiotic autocrats."

Idiotic autocrats? Could he be referring to the generals who rule so many Muslim countries: the three generals in direct succession who have run Egypt for over 50 years, the shadowy Algerian generals who have dominated their country for just as long, the generals who currently rule Bangladesh and Pakistan, the son of a general who runs Syria, and the "colonel" who has ruled Libya for 38 years?