"A Face-off Over Turkish Democracy
Tuesday, Apr. 01, 2008 By PELIN TURGUT/ISTANBUL
Turkey is in a turmoil that has all the drama of a Hollywood epic. There is a new venue for the ongoing power struggle that pits the old-guard élite — led by a military used to calling the shots since the country's founding in 1923 — against a powerful, newly moneyed class rooted in political Islam. The political vehicle of this class, the Justice and Development Party (AKP), was re-elected last summer with an overwhelming 47% of the vote. The old guard, having failed to beat the newcomers at the ballot box, has now asked the country's top court to ban the AKP and its leaders for undermining secularist principles they say are enshrined in Turkey's constitution"
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