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Tuesday, May 08, 2007

In Turkey, a looming battle over secularism

"In Turkey, a looming battle over secularism

Bulent and Dogu are easygoing young Turks and unlikely authoritarians. Bulent just returned from the hippie trail in SE Asia, and Dogu's son is named Cosmos.

But when the military recently threatened to settle Turkey's disputed presidential elections, they approved, suggesting just how hard it is to sort Turks into familiar political categories.

By "they," he meant the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, which has governed Turkey for the past four years under PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan and which is (depending who you talk to) either the hopeful face of a new moderate Islam or the moderate face of radical Islam's new hope."

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