Rather interesting couple of articles about the same event. And still a ringing silence from our media on this movement.
New rally for Turkish secularism
The crowds in Samsun were smaller than in other protests
Tens of thousands of Turks have massed in the city of Samsun in the latest demonstration in support of secularism.
The crowds waved national flags and chanted slogans opposing any change to Turkey’s secular political model.
The protest in Samsun, a port on the Black Sea, followed huge rallies in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir.
Turkey’s ruling, Islamist-rooted AK Party has called early elections to end a political stand-off sparked by its nomination of a presidential candidate.
The election, now due to be held on 22 July, was brought forward from November.
Demonstrators say the AK Party has an Islamist agenda to undermine the secular nature of the Turkish republic.
‘No coups’
Police estimated that about 50,000 people attended the rally, Reuters news agency reported.
Last weekend about one million people filled the seafront in the port of Izmir.
Many of those in Samsun carried pictures of Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey and the key icon of state secularism.
Samsun was the place where Ataturk launched the country’s war of independence against ruling powers after the end of World War I.
Organiser Turkan Saylan told the crowds that they were in Samsun “to cry out loud that we are against Shariat [Islamic law]”.
“And we are against military coups,” she added, referring to a threat by the country’s military to intervene in favour of the secular system
Presidency problem
The leaders of two of Turkey’s main opposition parties, the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and Democratic Left Party (DSP), shared a platform at the Samsun rally.
The two parties have joined forces in an effort to counter the AK Party in the forthcoming elections.
The current crisis was sparked by the AK Party’s attempts to nominate Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul to the presidency.
Opposition parties claimed the installation of a man with an Islamist political past would undermine secularism, and blocked attempts to confirm him in the Turkish parliament.
The government eventually withdrew Mr Gul’s nomination and called early elections.
Despite the mass rallies across Turkey, correspondents and opinion polls indicate that the AK Party still remains the country’s most popular.
Turks rally for secularism
Thousands carried the Turkish flag
creating a sea of red [AFP]
Tens of thousands of Turks have rallied in the northern city of Samsun in the latest of a series of weekly pro-secular demonstrations against the government ahead of elections.
Television pictures showed protesters on Sunday brandishing Turkish flags and portraits of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, modern Turkey’s secularist founder.
One organiser said that between 20,000 and 30,000 people had gathered, boosted by last week’s electoral agreement between centre-left parties against the ruling Justice and Development (AKP) party for the July 22 poll.
Deniz Baykal, head of the main opposition Republican People’s party (CHP), and Zeki Sezer, his counterpart in the Democratic Left party (DSP), were due to attend Sunday’s demonstration together.
The choice of Samsun as the venue for the latest protest was symbolic.
It was in the Black Sea port city 88 years ago that Ataturk launched a liberation movement against the British, French, Italian and Greek troops occupying Turkey after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in the first world war.
The rallies began last month after the AKP chose Abdullah Gul, the foreign minister, as its candidate for president.
The AKP failed to hold a parliamentary vote making Gul president, as a boycott by the opposition meant a quorum could not be attained.
The existing president is Ahmet Necdet Sezer.
Military warning
The turmoil, exacerbated by a warning from the military that it stood ready to defend the secular order, forced Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister, to bring legislative elections forward to July 22 from November.
Opinion polls, however, suggest that the AKP is still Turkey’s most popular party.
Despite its Islamist roots, the party has pledged commitment to secularism and carried out reforms that secured the opening of membership talks with the EU and stabilised the economy.
Opponents say the party still harbours Islamist ambitions, pointing at AKP policies such as opposition to a ban on the headscarf in universities and public offices, encouragement of religious schools and a failed attempt to restrict alcohol sales.
Credit to BBC and Al Jazeera.
The world is out there, you just got to go see what is happening in it. And judge for yourself.