This 300,000-strong "Rally for the Republic" was organized by "the ultra-secularist neo-nationalist Kemalist Thought Association (ADD)" ("AK Party Seemingly Unswayed by Anti-Erdoğan Rally in Ankara," 14 Apr 07, <http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=108375&bolum=103>).
The ADD is "led by retired generals involved in allegations of preparing of a military coup" ("President Funds Coup Planners," 10 Apr 07, <http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=107922>).
Sabri Oncu said on another list: "This is another sign of the rise of fasist nationalism and there is nothing that can stop it there at the moment: scary, very scary!.." (at <http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/2007-April/066154.html>).
It's a good question whether secular Western leftists choose democracy under the AKP or its demise at the hands of the secularist military in Turkey. The former, wishing to get Turkey into the EU, is more willing to reform Turkey on the questions of the Kurds, the Armenians, and so on than the latter, which would rather forfeit EU membership in favor of maintaining its hard-line nationalism
I'm afraid that many secular Western leftists would prefer a military dictatorship that bans hijab to a democracy that allows but does not impose hijab. And they would make their choices without knowing what's what, who's who, in Turkish politics.
<http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103AP_Turkey_March.html> Saturday, April 14, 2007 · Last updated 8:16 a.m. PT 300,000 march against Turkey's leader
By SUZAN FRASER ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
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The fiercely pro-secular military staged three coups between 1960 and 1980 and retains a strong influence over politics.
"We hope that someone who is loyal to the principles of the republic - not just in words but in essence - is elected president," Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, chief of the military, said Thursday in a statement widely interpreted as a warning to Erdogan not to run.
Any serious tensions between the government and the military could have a serious effect on the economy, analysts warn.
The demonstration at times turned into a pro-military rally, with a changing of the guard accompanied by shouts of "Turkey is proud of you!" to the soldiers.
<http://www.merip.org/mero/mero060306.html> Return of the Turkish "State of Exception" Kerem Öktem June 3, 2006 (Kerem Öktem is a research associate at St Antony's College, University of Oxford.)
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Turkey's mainstream media, along with many independent analysts, hailed the EU's October 3, 2005 decision to start membership talks with Turkey as a historic turning point. The window of opportunity was opened by the commitment of the governing Justice and Development Party (in Turkish, Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, or the AKP) to legal reform and political liberalization in order to strengthen the democratic system and protections for human rights. Backing for the European project ran at a high 70 percent in Turkey. The emotive drive for a "clean" Turkey was powerfully unifying, allowing the "moderate Islamists" of the AKP, secularists, Kurdish nationalists and, haltingly, the military establishment to join in the chorus of support for the prospect of EU membership. Even if this convergence was a single-issue alliance rather than an ideological realignment, the gradual withdrawal of the military from the sphere of politics and a more inclusive state policy towards ethnic and religious minorities seemed to be at hand.
Within less than a year, however, this coincidence of positions regarding the country's EU orientation has eroded. This erosion is due to a lethal cocktail of mutually reinforcing trends, each of which the AKP government has failed to contain. An aggressive nationalist discourse, steeped in anti-imperialist and anti-European sentiment, as well as barely veiled xenophobia, has reemerged. The set of actors and practices popularly known as the "deep state" (derin devlet) has reared its head. Finally, turmoil in Turkey's Middle Eastern backyard has added yet more tension to the precarious domestic situation. -- Yoshie