300,000 march against Turkey's leader

[bemildred]

Source: Seattle PI/AP

ANKARA, Turkey -- Some 300,000 Turks protested against their pro-Islamic prime minister Saturday, draping themselves in flags and pouring into streets and squares in a demonstration of the intense secular opposition he will face if he runs for president.

Protesters called on the government to resign and chanted: "We don't want an imam as president!" Flags of support fluttered from balconies and windows.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has brandished his strong religious convictions, speaking out against restrictions on wearing Islamic-style head scarves in government offices and schools, and taking steps to bolster religious institutions in this country founded on the principle of secular rule.

He also tried to criminalize adultery before being forced to back down under intense pressure from the European Union, which Turkey is trying to join.

Read more: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103AP_Turkey_March.html

[donsu]

1. this is important

nt

[Karenina]

2. Yes. indeed!

K&R!

[sutz12]

3. IIRC, this is the only "secular" Islamic state..

Since we fired Saddam. This bears watching.

[Igel]

4. It's a good start.

If Erdogan runs for prez, he'll almost surely get it. Then the 700+ appointed positions will quickly be filled with other pro-Islamist folks.

And, at some point, the Army will get involved ... and jihad, no doubt, declared by the more militant Islamists, with acquiescence from many fellow-travelers. And so another country sinks deep into the doo-doo.

(Gee, can you smell the cynicism coming out of your speakers?)

[sunonmars]

6. You are wrong here

As someone actually living in Turkey, trust me, the Turks will not let it get that far, they love being a secular state and the Army has overthrown 4 govts already in the last 50 years when they tried something like this.

Generals, Judges and scholars have basically told Erdogan in no uncertain terms, you take the presidency, the army will remove you.

The problem here is two fold, the islamist party is being held up by the east of the country and the western part wants to be european, ergo the problem.

However the army power here is way more powerful than the political institution and I guarantee you, will intervene very very quickly.

[amandabeech]

9. My Turkish housemate agrees with you.

She's counting on the army because she probably will have to return to Turkey next month due to visa problems. She's not looking forward to it because she won't be able to live independently of a male relative, even in a good neighborhood in Ankara.

She also contemplates the breakup of Turkey on an east-west basis.

She'll spend most of her time trying to leave for either the U.S. or western Europe. She's a wonderful person, and I will miss her.

[IndianaGreen]

7. Militant securalism is the only way to confront and defeat the threat

posed by the increasing fundamentalism found in Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. As long as these putrid apostles of religious intolerance confined their filth to the walls of their temples, they were just a minor nuisance. Now we are confronted by people that want to impose their religious mores on everyone else, from Asia to America, and unless we respond to it, we will find ourselves under their jackboots.

[lovuian]

5. He's talking war and reminds me of Bush

he's a real charmer alright

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AH-IjStfVBs
theres a picture of him in here

[bemildred]

8. That was my concern, that we'd get another war out of this dispute.

Like with the Kurds maybe.

[bonito]

10. Kick for 300,000 marching n/t

[ohio2007]

12. Not to downplay the 300k, but it was reported as 200k

by the al Jazeera news;

(sky shots are the better truth revealing money shots )
Turks hold pro-secular protest


More than 200,000 demonstrators have protested against Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's Islamic-leaning prime minister, becoming the country's president.
Protesters in Ankara on Saturday called for the government to resign, chanting slogans including, "We don't want an imam as president."
"I'm here to prevent Recep Tayyip Erdogan from becoming president," Serkan Ozcan, an engineer who travelled nearly 600km from Izmir to Ankara to attend the rally, said.

"Never has someone of that mentality been president and never will be."


-snip-
Saturday's rally was organised by Sener Eruygur, president of the Ataturk Thought Association and a former commander of Turkey's paramilitary forces.

-snip-



Radicalism can vote itself into power in Turkey but will they change the rules once in control?
Will the majority rule ?
Will the military ( or paramilitary ) follow orders of a leader of such "mentality" ? Time to turn out the vote.

On a side not,al Sadr called for a million man march to mark the anniversary of Saddam being toppled.
But reports of tens of thousands may have been the more accurate count then the hundreds of thousands certain sites were quoting so to argue over stories of 200,000 and 300,000 showing up for photo ops could could be a matter of bias the journalists report under.

[eppur_se_muova]

11. Protesting in FAVOR of sep'n of Church & State - time to move to Turkey? nt