Turkey: torn between God and state

The candidacy of Abdullah Gul, Turkey’s foreign minister, for the presidential elections provoked massive demonstrations in Istanbul and Ankara in April 2007 and aborted the voting process. The confrontation is between secularists and a ruling party with a neo-Islamic tinge, the popular Justice and Development party (AKP), which has overseen a sophisticated, fast-improving economy and the nation’s candidacy for the European Union. The crisis arose from a contest for the soul of the nation, with nationalism at its core