Police clashed with protesters outside Turkey’s parliament on Tuesday, amid outrage at a call for the secular country to adopt a religious constitution.
Demonstrators gathered in Ankara to express their fury at the controversial proposal from
parliamentary speaker Ismail Kahraman, a leading member of the ruling Islamist-rooted AK party.
Security forces broke up the rally. Dozens of people were detained.
Kahraman’s call for a religious constitution contradicts the founding principles of the modern republic.
“For one thing, the new constitution should not have secularism,” he said late on Monday.
“There are three countries in the world with secularism in their constitution – France, Ireland and Turkey…
Our constitution should not avoid the concept of a religious constitution. It should discuss religion.”
Parliament speaker’s call to remove secularism from Turkey’s constitution sparks outrage https://t.co/cDINTRpklT pic.twitter.com/mTqvInkhj3— Hürriyet Daily News (@HDNE
