TURKEY:Tens of thousands of Turks waving red national flags filled the streets of the Black Sea city of Samsun yesterday to protest against the Islamist-rooted government ahead of a July election.
"No to Sharia (Islamic) law," "Turkey is secular and will remain secular," the crowd chanted in the main square.
The rally, the latest in a series of protests, was billed by organisers as a way to unite the divided opposition against the government, which they accuse of trying to undermine the secular state. The ruling AK party of prime minister Tayyip Erdogan, which denies any Islamist agenda, has called a national election ahead of schedule to resolve a conflict with the secularist elite over a presidential election.
The secular establishment, including the military, judges and opposition parties, derailed the government's plan to elect foreign minister Abdullah Gul as president, fearing he might weaken the official separation of religion and state.
The protest follows a pact on Thursday between the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and the smaller left-wing DSP to contest the July 22nd election together. The leaders of both parties attended the demonstration and listened to the speakers.
"The mission of the meetings has been completed. Our people asked us to unite and we did. Now we are expecting more unity at the ballot box," CHP leader Deniz Baykal said.
There was a large police presence but a carnival atmosphere in Samsun, where modern Turkey's founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, launched the war of independence in 1919. Police estimated attendance at 50,000. Around a million attended a protest in Izmir last weekend.