Word: pushed
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Usually made of silk or cotton, the type of head scarf favored by strict Muslim women in Turkey typically measures just 1 m square. Yet that small quadrangle of cloth may bring down the nation's government and push its democratic institutions and secular traditions to crisis. On April 29, nearly a million Turkish citizens flooded Istanbul's trendiest downtown district in one of the largest demonstrations the ancient capital has ever seen. The cause of their ire: Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) had named Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, a politician with an Islamist past...
...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...
...parties are trying to push back. The Republican and Democratic National Committees say they will cut by half the number of delegates to the national convention of any state that votes before Feb. 5. Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean has gone further, threatening to bar all delegates of candidates who campaign in rule-breaking states. Few believe the threats. Once chosen, the candidates control the conventions, and none will want to offend key swing states like Florida and New Hampshire. So no one can say where the rush to be first will stop. Some reform ideas...
...under age 11. Oklahoma followed, passing Jessica's Law with a death penalty provision for raping a child under age 14. Texas already had some of the toughest child predator laws on the books with its two-strikes rule that sends child predators to jail for life. But the push for even harsher punishment was coming from the state leadership, rather than from the grass roots, as tightening of criminal laws often does. "Prosecutors will tell you these are the most difficult cases to get a guilty verdict on," Edmonds said. "Prosecutors lose more of these cases than any other...
...this instance. (At that time, no one challenged the result.) Still, the judgment has been accepted, and the AKP has called early elections in order to secure a new mandate. The new vote is expected to be held within two months. The party also said it would try to push through a constitutional amendment that would ensure that this kind of deadlock does not recur...