Turkish citizens take to streets in government protests

Chants such as "Turkey is secular and will remain secular" could be heard from the marchers who gathered in a city centre square under the watch of thousands of police officers. Qualms with Prime Minister The demonstrators protested what they called the anti-secular principles of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. His opponents accuse him of attempting to make Turkey more overtly Islamic through incremental steps, such as failing to end bans on Islamic-style headscarves at Turkish universities. Protestors also accused the AKP of seeking to replace Turkey's secular system with a regime based on Sharia, or Koranic law. The AKP does have religious roots but has rejected being referred to as "Islamist". Demonstrators were also protesting the government's handling of the economy as unemployment in the country has reached a record high amid the global economic downturn; Kazinform cites Trend News. See news-en.trend.az for full version.