Turkey’s leading secular party to boycott presidential vote

aug 07

the Republican People’s Party ... Ozyurek read excerpts from past speeches or writings by Gul in which he said the foreign minister openly targeted Turkey’s secular system. “The end of the republic has come, we will change the secular system,” Ozyurek quoted Gul as saying in one instance.

He said Gul, 56, made his comments after the age of 40 and it was unlikely for someone to change after that age. “The election of someone who has made such comments in the past as president would shake the pillars of the republic,’’ Ozyurek said.