A large rally was held in Istanbul, Turkey with over 300,000 protesters as CNN reported . Apparently, the people were protesting against a predominant presidential candidate for president who's policies were considerably religious. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul is running for President on a platform of Islam. The country is over 99 percent Muslim and 50 years ago founded the country on a very democratic, secular and progressive constitution. The organization that headed up the protest had this to say:
With a reported 70 percent behind the secular government, the people have spoken. What really got to me was what was said by representatives of the protesters about why. Maybe this is CNN's fault, but as the article put it:"The indivisible integrity of secularism and democracy lays the foundations of the Turkish republic, a sacrifice of one for the other is unthinkable. Turkey can healthily emerge from this process by lowering tensions and renewing the will of the nation."
"The probability that Gul, whose wife wears the traditional Muslim head scarf, will become the president -- possibly bolstering the role of religion in politics -- has caused unease in the vastly secular nation.'We don't want a covered woman in Ataturk's presidential palace,' said Ayse Bari, a 67-year-old housewife, during Sunday's protests, AP reported. 'We want civilized, modern people there.'"
Apparently the Muslims in Turkey don't think very highly of themselves. Or maybe they believe America, in all our glory, is the most "successful" and must therefore follow in our footsteps. They know that a strong government but be run with little religion involved. Now if only America could realize this. *cough cough* Bush administration.
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