"Islam and the Presidency in Turkey
Wednesday, Apr. 25, 2007 By ANDREW PURVIS
In Turkey, the choosing of a president is rarely the dramatic affair that it is in the United States. Turkey's president isn't even directly elected by the voters — he or she is chosen by the elected parliament — and the office carries limited powers. Still, the president does have the power to veto legislation, and is also considered an important symbol of the Turkish state. That's why the nomination for president this week by Turkey's ruling party of the country's Foreign Minister, Abdullah Gul, has reopened fierce debates about the place of Islam in the ferociously secular Turkish state."
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