Turkey: "No Sharia, No Coup"

One Million Secular Turks protest presidential aspirant

Secular Turks rally to send a message to prime minister
A possible presidential bid by Erdogan, an Islamist party leader, stirs opposition. 'We don't want to become Iran,' one says.


The Los Angeles Times :

More than a quarter-million people rallied in the Turkish capital today to voice secularists' opposition to a run for the presidency by the country's prime minister, who is affiliated with an Islamist party. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to announce soon, perhaps in the coming week, whether he will be his party's presidential nominee. The president is to be elected next month by lawmakers, and because Erdogan's party has a...

The Independent:

Turkey's president says Islamist threat to secular establishment at highest level
By Selcan Hacaoglu, Associated Press Writer
Published: 14 April 2007
Turkey's staunchly pro-secular president said yesterday that the threat Islamic fundamentalism poses to the country's secular establishment has reached its highest level - a warning directed at the Islamic-rooted prime minister, who may stand to replace him in May.
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer was addressing officers of the country's military, the self-appointed guarantor of the secular regime, in one of his last speeches before he steps down as president.
"For the first time, the pillars of the secular republic are being openly questioned," private NTV television quoted Sezer as saying during a speech at the War Academies in Istanbul.
He appeared to be referring to members of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamic-rooted party who have questioned the definition of secularism.

One million Turks rally against government (Sydney Morning Herals)

As many as one million people rallied in a sea of red Turkish flags in Istanbul, accusing the government of planning an Islamist state and demanding it withdraw its presidential candidate.