Word: erdogan
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...That clash came to a head on May 1 when Turkey's Constitutional Court annulled the first round of elections in Parliament that would have made Gul President. Handpicked by his longtime ally Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Gul was ahead in the ballot, but the court, in a ruling that appeared to betray its secularist bias, upheld claims by Turkey's main secularist political party that the balloting was unconstitutional because a quorum wasn't present-no matter that the opposition engineered that shortfall by boycotting the vote, or that at least one President had previously been elected with...
...conservative Muslim voters has been steadily growing, as demonstrated by the AKP's landslide sweep to power in the 2002 elections. Whereas the secular middle class can be found almost exclusively in coastal cities like Istanbul and Izmir, the AKP, led by the former semipro soccer player and Islamist Erdogan, has its roots in the conservative Central Anatolian heartland, as well as among millions of poorer migrants from those areas. Despite secularists' warnings, a poll conducted last year by a leading Istanbul think tank found that only 8.9% of the population would like to see Turkey's legal system based...
...also been careful not to push an Islamic agenda too aggressively. Erdogan, for example, ran for office in 2002 on promises to lift a 1981 secularist ban on head scarves in universities and other public buildings, but has so far refrained from doing so. Still, the party has also made its share of missteps. Last year Erdogan nominated a specialist in Islamic banking with no expert knowledge of interest rates to lead the country's central bank (the decision was vetoed). The party also introduced (and subsequently dropped) a law banning adultery. Turkey's newspapers are filled with stories...
...widespread such practices are is hard to measure. But secularist Turks have been quick to raise the alarm. An overwhelming majority distrusted Erdogan anyway, despite his repeated insistence that he supports a secular, democratic state. As evidence against him, these skeptics cited comments he made before he was elected that democracy is "like a streetcar-you ride it to the end and then you get off." The party has often been judged less for its performance than for what it represents. Secularists feel this is "an existential issue," explains Altinay, "and therefore that any route to stopping them is acceptable...
...breaking point has come over Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's insistence on nominating his number two, Abdullah Gul, as Turkey's next President. The presidency is a largely symbolic role, but he wields important veto power. With Gul as President, and the Justice and Development Party (AKP) a comfortable majority in parliament, secular Turks fear "it would be the beginning of the end for Turkey as we know it," says commentator Metin Munir. Their concern is that the AKP harbors a secret Islamist agenda, and that without the appropriate checks on their power, they will seek to adopt Sharia...