Turkish protestors march for a secular society
-05/11/06
Up to 13,000 Turkish citizens
Turkish protestors march for a secular society
-05/11/06
Up to 13,000 Turkish citizens joined a protest march in the capital Ankara on Saturday 4 November 2006. They were complaining against what they see as a significant increase in Islamist influence under Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, according to the Anatolian news agency.
Demonstrators were drawn from 112 Turkish NGOs, and included both secularists and people of faith. Their slogans included the observation, “Turkey is secular and will remain secular”.
Though it is overwhelmingly Muslim by conviction and affiliation, Turkey is governed by secular laws that ensure a separation of religion and the state.
However, Mr Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) has its roots in a political form of Islam and has been seeking to change the terms of engagement between faith and the public square.
Following the 2002 elections, the AKP has caused widespread concern by promoting religious schools and allegedly filling senior government posts with people who are sympathetic to its ideology.
It is also seeking to lift a ban on wearing Islamic headscarves in universities and government offices, though that is a move some who favour neutrality on the issue of religion do not criticise in principle. Others say it gives ground to Islamism.
In his speech to Saturdayís demonstration, Sener Eruygur of the secular Kemalist Thought Society (ADD), a former army general, said he believed that PM Erdogan wanted to be Turkey’s next president.
In May 2007 the Turkish parliament will elect a successor to President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, who favours the continuation of the secular settlement. The fears about a change of direction are heightened by the fact that the AKP retains a sizeable majority.
The present Pope and other senior Catholic figures continue to be sceptical about Turkeyís possible accession to the European Union, because of what they argue are cultural and religious divergences from the majority Christian culture.
Others reject this ëChristendomí mentality, and say that allowing a greater gap to grow between Europe and Turkey will only strengthen the cause of a narrow, political Islam.
Turkish protestors march for a secular society
-05/11/06
Up to 13,000 Turkish citizens joined a protest march in the capital Ankara on Saturday 4 November 2006. They were complaining against what they see as a significant increase in Islamist influence under Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, according to the Anatolian news agency.
Demonstrators were drawn from 112 Turkish NGOs, and included both secularists and people of faith. Their slogans included the observation, “Turkey is secular and will remain secular”.
Though it is overwhelmingly Muslim by conviction and affiliation, Turkey is governed by secular laws that ensure a separation of religion and the state.
However, Mr Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) has its roots in a political form of Islam and has been seeking to change the terms of engagement between faith and the public square.
Following the 2002 elections, the AKP has caused widespread concern by promoting religious schools and allegedly filling senior government posts with people who are sympathetic to its ideology.
It is also seeking to lift a ban on wearing Islamic headscarves in universities and government offices, though that is a move some who favour neutrality on the issue of religion do not criticise in principle. Others say it gives ground to Islamism.
In his speech to Saturdayís demonstration, Sener Eruygur of the secular Kemalist Thought Society (ADD), a former army general, said he believed that PM Erdogan wanted to be Turkey’s next president.
In May 2007 the Turkish parliament will elect a successor to President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, who favours the continuation of the secular settlement. The fears about a change of direction are heightened by the fact that the AKP retains a sizeable majority.
The present Pope and other senior Catholic figures continue to be sceptical about Turkeyís possible accession to the European Union, because of what they argue are cultural and religious divergences from the majority Christian culture.
Others reject this ëChristendomí mentality, and say that allowing a greater gap to grow between Europe and Turkey will only strengthen the cause of a narrow, political Islam.