Thousands of Turks protest Erdogan presidency

Ankara, Apr 14: More than 20,000 pro-secular Turks protested today against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, a former Islamist, running for president next month.

Rally organisers expect more than 100,000 people to march to the mausoleum of the founder of the republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, in the capital Ankara in an attempt to pressure the ruling AK Party not to pick Erdogan as their candidate.

A police official told Reuters more than 20,000 people had gathered in central Ankara and that roads leading up to the rally, which officialy starts at 1330 IST, had been shut.

''Turkey is secular and will remain secular forever,'' shouted protesters.

A possible presidency headed by Erdogan has split this secular but predominantly Muslim country of 74 million, which is negotiating European Union membership.

Turkey's secular elite, which includes army generals and judges, fear Erdogan as president would try to undermine Turkey's strict separation of state and religion. Erdogan denies any Islamist agenda and says he has broken with his past and is now a conservative democrat.

President Ahmet Necdet Sezer said on Friday that the country's secular system of government faced its gravest danger since the founding of the republic in 1923, in comments seen as a direct attack against the AK Party.

The stark warning from Sezer, ahead of elections next month that could give Turkey its first head of state with Islamist roots, came on the heels of similar remarks by the powerful army chief on Thursday.

The AK Party, which has roots in political Islam, has a sufficient majority in parliament to appoint Erdogan or anybody else it chooses to the seven-year post. The party is expected to name its candidate on April 18 or shortly after.

Reuters