300,000 Turks Protest Against Radical Islam

This Sunday, 300,000 Turks took to the streets in Istanbul to protest radical Islam and demand the resignation of the government over a disputed presidential election. CNews reports that the Turkish protestors waved the red national flags of their country, "saying the Islamic roots of Turkey's leaders threatened to destroy the country's modern foundations." The crowd chanted that the Turkish presidential palace was "closed to imams." A similar protest with over 300,000 Turks took place in Ankara two weeks ago.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that secular Turks fear that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has "a secret agenda to impose Islamic law on Turkey" with his endorsement of Foreign Minister, Abdullah Gul, for Turkey's president, although he has said that he will keep government and religion separate.

Per the Journal of Turkish Weekly, the religious Abdullah Gul is standing firm-

Braving threats of intervention by the powerful military establishment and massive street protests, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul insisted Sunday, April 29, that he remains the ruling Justice and Development Party's sole candidate for the presidency.

"The process has begun and will continue ... There can be no question of my candidacy being withdrawn," Gul was quoted by Reuters as telling reporters in the capital Ankara.

Although 99% of its population is Muslim, Turkey has had western laws since the 1920s. In an attempt to revive a near-ruined Ottoman Empire, visionary Mustafa Kemal Ataturk imposed western laws and replaced Arabic script with the Latin alphabet. He banned Islamic dress and women were granted the right to vote. The primarily Muslim country also has a thriving secular population, especially in the cities.

There's been a change in the wind in the last twenty years, however with a renewed Islamic fervor in the countryside. Secular Turkish cities have seen an influx of the more pious members of the Muslim population from outlying rural areas. This very conservative Islamic segment of Turkey's population is represented by the Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who, the Sydney Morning Herald reports "is challenging the secular elite, forcing a presidential candidate upon them whom they find completely distasteful."

CNews reports on what many secularists see as attempts by the ruling party to create an Islamic state:

The ruling party has supported religious schools and tried to lift the ban on Islamic head scarves in public offices and schools. Secularists are also uncomfortable with the idea of Gul's wife, Hayrunisa, being in the presidential palace because she wears the traditional Muslim head scarf.

"We don't want a covered woman in Ataturk's presidential palace," said Ayse Bari, 67, a housewife. "We want civilized, modern people there."

Turkish Daily News Reports on the protest and the potential role of the military as Turkish secularists fear an increased role of Islam in their daily lives and government:

"Turkey is secular and will remain secular," they chanted in the second mass rally against the AKP Party in two weeks.

"We want neither Shari`ah, nor a coup, but a fully democratic Turkey."

The military establishment, which carried out three coups since 1960, has warned it would intervene to safeguard the cherished secular order when necessary.

The government, the EU, human rights groups and even opposition parties have told the army not to meddle.

Sources:

Lifestyles of the poor and religious rattle Turkey's elite, The Sydney Morning Herald, May 1, 2007, http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/lifestyles-of-the-poor-and-religious-rattle-turkeys-elite/2007/04/30/1177788058611.html

Over 300,000 Turks protest, CNEWS, April 29, 2007, http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2007/04/29/4140018-ap.html

What's happening in Turkey?, The Journal of Turkish Weekly, April 30, 2007, http://www.turkishweekly.net/news.php?id=44677