For years, Turks had complained about their political leaders with a crushing passivity as their living standards sank and government mismanagement and corruption drove the country towards bankruptcy. On Monday, with one newspaper trumpeting an "Anatolian revolution", citizens seemed surprised by the strength they had demonstrated at the ballot box in a general election called early after the ruling coalition of outgoing prime minister Bulent Ecevit collapsed.
Some remained worried by the victory of the Justice and Development party (AKP), an untried party viewed with suspicion for its Islamist roots, contained by just one opposition rival, the left-leaning Republican People's party, the only other group to cross the 10 per cent threshold required for parliamentary representation.
The expulsion from parliament of parties that have been in office over the past 20 years was another matter, however. With no mercy for left or right, young or old, the cull included AKP's own competition: Contentment, a front party for Necmettin Erbakan, the founder of political Islam forced out of office by the armed forces in 1997.
This time, however, change was brought about not by the army but by the people. The election result gives Turkey its first two-party parliament since multi-party democracy was first introduced in 1954 and then suspended by a military coup in 1960.
On Monday Turks were hoping for a new era of political stability. They will need it, if the country is finally to rehabilitate its shaky economy, and advance towards membership of the European Union. "We needed a clean-out of the old system," said Behic Ozek, 50, a businessman. Candan Ersoy, a 28-year-old child-minder, agreed. "The best thing about this election is that we won't have to see the same ugly old faces any more, and that the new government, at the end of its term in office, will not be able to say 'oh we were not able to keep our promises because we lacked a parliamentary majority'." The shakeout was still continuing on Monday, as leaders of defeated parties fell like dominoes. This in itself was unusual, given that Turkish politicians typically have refused to resign even when defeated at the ballot-box.
First to go, in the early hours of Monday morning, was Devlet Bahceli, leader of the National Action party (MHP), the biggest coalition partner. He had called the early election after opposing reforms to join the European Union - a goal shared by a majority of Turks. Then, instead of capitalising on the small but important anti-foreign vote, as planned, the MHP's support base was split by Cem Uzan, a businessman who used modern advertising techniques and his own media to sell a more dangerous, xenophobic brew. While Mr Bahceli was praised for his exemplary decision to step down, there were also sighs of relief among educated Turks that Mr Uzan, a businessman who faces criminal court cases at home and abroad, had also fallen beneath the 10 per cent threshold for entering parliament. But the most pathetic victim of all was Mr Ecevit, the ailing 77-year-old prime minister who slipped from biggest winner in the last elections to biggest loser, with just over 1 per cent of the vote. The veteran politician described his unwieldy coalition's decision to hold early elections as "political suicide".
But many blamed his own refusal to hand over his Democratic Left party to a younger, more dynamic successor before his health problems plunged the government and financial markets into chaos this summer. Ismail Cem, the ex-foreign minister who led a defection from Mr Ecevit's party, simply melted away with little more than a percentage point for his New Turkey party.
Most brazen - until she too stood down from the leadership of the centre-right True Path party - was Tansu Ciller, Turkey's first female prime minister. A populist with a sleaze problem, Mrs Ciller had lectured the outgoing government on its economic failings after herself plunging the country into financial crisis in 1994. Another casualty, who resigned on Monday, was Mesut Yilmaz, the deputy prime minister and leader of the Motherland party, the junior coalition partner. Although he had worked hard to advance Turkey's candidacy for the EU, Mr Yilmaz was also tainted by sleaze allegations - a reputation not helped by his sacking of Sadettin Tantan, the former interior minister who had dared mount a serious onslaught on corruption.
It is now up to AKP to do better. It has few excuses to fail and perhaps more incentive to succeed. "Since this party would like to legitimise its position both abroad and at home, it may represent a chance for Turkey to accelerate long-overdue political and economic reforms," argues Omer Faruk Genckaya, a political scientist.