TURKEY: Turks hit streets to protest governing AKP party

Hundreds of thousands of Turks take to the streets of Izmir, stepping up pressure on the Islamist-rooted government with a rally to demand their country remain a secular state. The organisers of a huge rally in the Turkish city of Izmir on Sunday (May 13) hoped the protest, which they expected to attract two million people, would unite the opposition ahead of elections in July. The rally was overshadowed by a bombing on Saturday (May 12) in the city which killed one man and injured 14. It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack. Streets and buildings in Turkey's third largest city, including army barracks, were covered in a sea of red Turkish flags and portraits of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the revered founder of modern Turkey. "Turkey is secular and will remain secular," protesters, predominantly youths at this rally, chanted. "No to sharia (Islamic law)." Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government has been forced to call a general election months ahead of schedule to defuse a conflict with Turkey's secularists over a presidential election. Turkey's secular elite, including opposition parties, top judges and army generals, successfully blocked Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul's election as Turkish President. They feared that he might try to undermine Turkey's separation of state and religion, a claim he and his ruling AK Party strongly deny. Turkey's main opposition centre-left Republican People's Party (CHP) and the smaller leftist Democratic Left Party (DSP) -- which are in talks to form an alliance -- hope to use the rally to build momentum ahead of the July 22 election. "We are here for secularism, for Kemalism. We are here to say that Turkish Republic can not be divided. We don't have enmity against anyone. We have to get together hand in hand with love," said Sevil Cakici, who works for a civil organization called Turkey`s Mothers Association. Opinion polls show the centre-right AK Party is likely to win most votes in July, but it may fail to win an outright majority, forcing it to form a coalition government. A series of large anti-AK Party rallies over the past month have again brought to the surface the great divide among Turks, who are predominantly Muslim, over the role of religion amid fast economic and social change. Izmir, a transit point for Turkey's tourism industry, has traditionally been predominantly secular and pro-western. It is seen as a key battle ground in elections.

ITN Source | May 13, 2007

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