Around 300,000 Turks marched on Saturday to try to stop the ruling AK Party from picking Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan as their presidential candidate next week because of his Islamist roots.

"Turkey is secular and will remain secular forever," shouted protesters as they waved national flags and banners of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, revered founder of the republic which separated religion and state.

The AK Party has its roots in political Islam, and a possible presidency headed by Erdogan has split this secular but predominantly Muslim country seeking European Union membership.

	Advertisement

Turkey's secularists fear that if Erdogan, or someone close to him, wins the presidency next month, the government will be able to implement an Islamic agenda without opposition.

Tens of thousands traveled from across the country overnight to attend the rally in downtown Ankara. Police deployed around 10,000 officers and cordoned off the meeting area - near the Mausoleum Ataturk. The crowds were expected to visit the mausoleum after the rally to pay their respects.

Many residents in the capital hung Turkish flags out of their balconies or windows in support of the rally.

Turkey's staunchly pro-secular president, Ahmet Necdet Sezer, said Friday that the threat Islamic fundamentalism poses to the country's secular establishment has reached its highest level - a warning directed at Erdogan, who may stand to replace him in May.

"For the first time, the pillars of the secular republic are being openly questioned," Sezer said in an address to officers of the country's military, the self-appointed guarantor of the secular regime.

Sezer appeared to be referring to members of Erdogan's Islamic-rooted party who have questioned the definition of secularism.

"We are aware of the danger," the pro-secular Cumhuriyet newspaper headlined on Saturday in white letters printed against a red background.

Erdogan's government denies it has an Islamic agenda, but pro-secular Turks say the government is slowly moving the country toward increased religious rule.

Since taking power, Erdogan has shown his commitment to future European Union membership by enacting sweeping reforms that allowed the country to start accession talks in 2005.

But he has also stoked secularist concerns by speaking out against restrictions on wearing Islamic-style head scarves 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 government is widely accused of appointing Islamist-leaning officials to key state positions. Most recently an alleged suggestion by Culture Minister Atilla Koc to add Arabic letters to the Turkish alphabet - which is based on the Latin script - has fueled concerns from secularists.

Sezer steps down on May 16. Parliament, which is dominated by lawmakers from Erdogan's party, will elect the new president early next month. Erdogan has not yet said whether he will stand. His party was expected to announce its candidates for the position this month.

"As a citizen and as a member of the armed forces, we hope that someone who is loyal to the principles of the republic - not just in words but in essence - is elected president," Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, chief of the military, said Thursday.

Buyukanit's words were widely interpreted as a warning to Erdogan not to run.

The military views itself as the protector of Turkey's secular identity. The fiercely secular generals have staged three coups between 1960 and 1980, and in 1997 led a campaign that pressured a pro-Islamic government out of power.

Although largely ceremonial, the presidency has become a symbol for secularism under Sezer.

A former Constitutional Court judge, Sezer has vetoed a record number of laws he deemed to be in violation of the secular constitution and has blocked government efforts to appoint hundreds of reportedly Islamic-oriented candidates to important civil service positions.