TURKEY: ONLY 12,000 SECULARISTS PROTESTED TURKEY'S ISLAMIZATION UNDER ERDOGAN

12,000 secular Turks march against radical Islam, urge against concessions to EU

ANKARA, Turkey: Thousands of secular, nationalist Turks marched in the capital Saturday, vowing to defend the secular regime against Islamization and urging the government not to make too many concessions in order to gain European Union membership.

Some 12,000 people from more than 100 pro-secular associations waved Turkish flags as they marched to the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, in a show of loyalty to secularism. Many of them carried posters of Ataturk.

"Turkey is secular and it will remain secular," they chanted during a march broadcast live on some TV channels.

Ret. Gen. Sener Eruygur, president of the Ataturk Thought Association and former commander of Turkey's paramilitary forces, warned against alleged plans by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of the Islamic-rooted government to run for president in May.

Staunchly secular President Ahmet Necdet Sezer will retire in May, and the parliament — dominated by Erdogan's legislators — will choose the new president.

"There are plans to occupy the presidential palace," a symbol of secularism in Turkey, Eruygur said.

Although largely ceremonial, the presidency has become a symbol for secularism under Sezer.
A former Constitutional Court judge, Sezer vetoed a record number of laws he deemed violated the secular constitution and has blocked government efforts to appoint hundreds of reportedly Islamic-oriented candidates to important civil service positions.

"The state's ... order cannot be based on religious rules," Sezer has said, citing the Constitution. "Religion or religious sentiments ... cannot be used for personal or political gains."

Sezer has recently cautioned against "the threat of Islamic fundamentalism," speaking of increased measures that were "rolling back" the gains of the secular republic, and said these were increasing tension in the country. They included the appointment of Islamic-minded officials to key civil service positions, recent statements by officials in Erdogan's party questioning the definition of secularism and efforts to "make religion part of society and to reflect it in politics."

Erdogan's government denies it has an Islamic agenda, but pro-secular Turks charge the government is slowly moving the country toward increased religious rule, threatening the secular state that was founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1923 from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire.

Since taking power, Erdogan showed his commitment to European Union membership by enacting sweeping reforms that allowed the country to start membership talks last year.
But he has also stoked secularist concerns by speaking out against restrictions on wearing Islamic-style headscarfs in government offices and schools and taking steps to bolster religious schools. He tried to criminalize adultery before being forced to back down under intense EU pressure. Some party-run municipalities have taken steps to ban alcohol consumption.

The presidential palace is a government office and if Erdogan were to become president, the head scarf worn by his wife, Emine, could cause tensions.

"The gains of the republic were being rolled back one by one," Senal Sarihan, president of the Republican Women's Association said in a speech. "Today is the day to rise up for the Republic."
Eruygur also urged protesters to stand up against concessions on minority issues — primarily EU demands to grant greater cultural rights to Kurds and other religious and ethnic minorities.

Turkey is fighting a separatist Kurdish guerrilla group, the Kurdistan Workers Party, in a war that has killed more than 37,000 people since 1984, and many Turks regard granting more rights to Kurds a concession to the rebels.

The U.S. and the European Union consider the organization a terrorist group.

Turkish public support for membership in the EU has fallen below 50 percent, and many believe that perceived insults from the EU — in the form of frequent criticism and seemingly endless demands for reform — play directly into the hands of nationalists and Islamists waiting to tap into a broken and defensive Turkish psyche.

The European Commission is expected to issue a highly critical report next week accusing Turkey of dragging its heels on political reforms and demanding significant improvements in 2007 if Ankara wants to stay on track to join the bloc.

The draft report, seen by The Associated Press, says Turkey is failing to meet minimum human rights standards, and cites problems in freedom of expression, women's and trade union rights and civilian control over the military.

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