Turkey: This is not something new

This is not something new. The secular/military elites acted similarly in the case of the election of Turgut Ozal in 1989, who became Turkey's first "civil" president in 49 years. They opposed him as they oppose the AK Party today. Ozal's wife did not wear a headscarf, nor was Ozal an Islamist. But still, he was not a "soldier." He came from the countryside, he was educated in the US and he was a man of liberal policies. That was more than enough for the elites to oppose him.

aug 07