Millions of Turks rally to support secularism

PanARMENIAN.Net - In a major show of strength over one million secular Turks demonstrated in the Aegean port city of Izmir against the Islamic-rooted government ahead of Turkeys early general elections.



The huge demonstration Sunday in the country's third-largest city -- a secular stronghold where Islamic parties fare poorly -- followed similar protests in Ankara and Turkey last month. On Saturday, a bomb placed at an Izmir market killed one person and injured 14 others, but there was no claim of responsibility for the attack, nor evidence that it was linked to the demonstration.



About 1.5 million people joined the rally, which would make it the largest protest so far by secular Turks fearful that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's is conspiring to impose religious values on society.



The demonstrators called on leaders of the fragmented secular parties to unite against Erdogan's party.



"Unite! Unite! Unite!" the crowds chanted. "Unite or tomorrow may be too late!"



Some wore paper hats with the slogan: "No to Islamic law, no to military coups: a democratic Turkey" demonstrating disapproval of a military threat last month to intervene in the presidential elections in order to safeguard secularism. The military has ousted civilian governments in the past.



The protests have aimed to pressure Erdogan not to nominate Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul as a presidential candidate. The secular establishment sees him as an Islamist and he was forced to suspend his bid after the secular opposition boycotted the voting process in parliament.



Erdogan called early general elections for July 22 and passed constitutional amendments to enable the people -- and not parliament -- to elect the president. The amendment must be endorsed by current president, Ahmet Necdet Sezer, to go into effect.



The political turmoil displayed an ever growing secular-Islamic rift in this mainly Muslim country of 75 million, whose secular laws are enshrined in the Constitution and fiercely guarded by the judiciary and by the military. Turkey is seeking European Union membership, and the 27- member bloc is closely watching the political process.



Protesters, many of whom traveled to Izmir from other cities, gathered under the blazing sun filling an estimated 2-kilometer (1.25-mile) strip of seafront.



They carried anti-government banners, red-and-white Turkish flags and pictures of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who founded the secular republic in 1923. Turkish flags and pictures of Ataturk hung from balconies, buses and boats bobbing in Izmir's bay.



Thousands tried to reach Izmir throughout the morning, choking traffic on highways leading to the city.



Some protesters in Izmir held banners that denounced the EU, which many Turkish nationalists believe is interfering in their country's affairs, as well as the United States, whose forces occupy neighboring Iraq, AP reports.