Waving the country's red flag and singing nationalist songs, demonstrators in Istanbul demanded the resignation of the pro-Islamic government, calling Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan a traitor. Erdogan's foreign minister, Abdullah Gul, is widely expected to win the presidential election by the country's 550-seat parliament.
. And many Turks are calling for early elections in the hope of replacing the parliament, which is dominated by Gul's pro-Islamic ruling party.
"Turkey is secular and will remain secular!" shouted thousands of protesters, many of whom traveled to Istanbul from across the country overnight.
"We don't want a covered woman in Ataturk's presidential palace," protester Ayse Bari, a 67-year-old housewife, said in reference to Gul's wife Hayrunisaah who wears the Muslim headscarf. "We want civilized, modern people there."
The election has reignited a conflict over Turkey's national identity that has brewed since Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, an army officer in World War I, founded the secular republic after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. He gave the vote to women, restricted Islamic dress and replaced the Arabic script with the Roman alphabet.
. And many Turks are calling for early elections in the hope of replacing the parliament, which is dominated by Gul's pro-Islamic ruling party.
This government is the enemy of Ataturk," said 63-year-old Ahmet Yurdakul, a retired government employee among the demonstrators on Sunday. "It wants to drag Turkey to the dark ages."
On Friday, Gul failed to win a first round of voting in parliament after opposition lawmakers boycotted the vote. The opposition then appealed to the Constitutional Court to annul the result on grounds that there was not a quorum present at the time of the vote. That night, the military threatened to intervene in the election and warned the government to curb Islamic influences.
