Fears of an Islamic Agenda in Turkey

Deniz Baykal, leader of the opposition center-left Republican People's Party or CHP, applauds his supporters during an election rally in Istanbul, Turkey, in this Nov. 1, 2002 file photo. The architect of the dramatic reversal of fortune for Turkey's Islamic-rooted prime minister is a longtime opposition figure who has been fighting what he sees as Islam's encroach into Turkish politics for more than a decade. Deniz Baykal, 68, is president of Turkey's oldest political party, the Republican People's Party. Since 2002, when Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party swept into power with two-thirds of the seats in Parliament, Baykal has been relegated to the mostly powerless role of leader of the opposition. (AP Photo/Murad Sezer/File) (Murad Sezer - AP)

He was an active member of the National Salvation Party and served as Istanbul mayor in the Welfare Party, but both Islamist groups were shut down as threats to the state. As prime minister, Erdogan has cultivated a moderate image, careful to avoid confrontation with the establishment.

That changed with the presidential nomination of Gul, a move that alarmed secularists who thought an Islamic-rooted government in control of Parliament, the prime minister's office and finally the presidency would no longer face checks on its authority. The current president, Ahmet Necdet Sezer, has blocked many government bills and appointments with his veto.

After years of keeping its agenda under wraps, the secularists speculated, the government would have a green light to introduce an Islamic agenda.

The opposition boycotted the first round of presidential voting and appealed for its annulment to the nation's highest court, arguing that a quorum was not present. The court, a strongly secular body, agreed. The ruling party plans to hold another presidential vote on Sunday, but it will probably face another boycott and a halt to the process.

Erdogan's foes cite a lot of perceived transgressions to support their argument that he and his party are bent on turning Turkey into a more Islamic place, however long it takes:

_ The ruling party has tried to ban adultery and forbidden the sale of alcohol in cafes run by its municipalities. It has encouraged religious schools and has spoken of ending the prohibition on Islamic head scarves in public offices and schools. Gul's wife, Hayrunisa, wears a head covering, a garment that secularists say would sully the presidential palace.

_ Erdogan was jailed for four months in 1999 on a charge of inciting religious hatred after reciting an Islamic poem with the line: "Mosques are our barracks, domes our helmets, minarets our bayonets, believers our soldiers."

_ Long before he was prime minister, Erdogan said: "Democracy is not an aim but a means to an end."

But the opposition, which is divided and has struggled to offer a forward-looking vision to its constituents, has seemed strident at times.

One leader described Gul's candidacy as an attempt by the ruling party to elect a "sultan," a reference to the authoritarian leaders of the Ottoman period who based their legitimacy partly on their role as the guardians of Islam.

For their part, government leaders label the secularists as the ones with a poor understanding of democracy, implying that they run to the coattails of the military and sympathetic judges whenever they feel their share of power is dwindling.

Gul, the presidential candidate, says he is a victim.

"A columnist wrote about me having allegedly attended a panel discussion where I insulted the secular system. I never attended such a panel! It's a lie," he told Turkish journalists this week. "They claim I tore Ataturk's photographs. These slanders are perpetrated by certain people. We know very well who they are."

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Christopher Torchia is the Associated Press chief of bureau in Istanbul.