It seems that the Turkish army has said that it will do everything necessary to to defend Turkey’s secular system.

In a statement released late on Friday night, the General Staff says it is following with ‘concern’ the debate over secular system in the presidential elections and would ‘openly display its position and attitudes when it becomes necessary’

The military issued a memorandum-like statement saying that Islamic reactionary activities were expanding in scope and vowing that it would fulfill its “lawful duties” to protect the state. The statement came on Friday night, hours after Parliament held the first round of the presidential election.
In a statement posted on its Web site, the General Staff said it was following with “concern” the debate over Turkey’s secular system in the presidential elections and would “openly display its position and attitudes when it becomes necessary.”

The is very powerful in Turkey and has several times in the past acted / overthrown governments. In other words, when the army makes statements like this, everybody takes it very serious.

Some Turkish civilians meanwhile responded with anger, as did some politicians and the EU.

The Turkish government itself did not remain silent either. Turkish Daily News:

The Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) government said Saturday a military warning against it was democratically unacceptable.

In a rather unaccustomed manner the Turkish government lashed out at the army, which accused it of endangering secularism, saying that the general staff “remains under the orders of the prime minister.”

“I would like to underline that it is inconceivable in a democratic state based on the rule of law for the general staff, which remains under the orders of the prime minister, to speak out against the government,” government spokesman Cemil Çiçek told a news conference.

He stressed the government’s commitment to the secular order of the country and said it was “unacceptable” for Turkey to resolve its problems outside the democratic system.

This is an extremely complicated matter. Turkey is secular and it would be a disaster for itself and for Europe if Erdogan and company destroy it bit by bit. On the other hand, a take over by the army would be quite disastrous as well, at least in the short term.

It seems to me that the army won’t act yet… but Erdogan and Gul have to be very, very careful. One mistake and the army might act.

Meanwhile, Ataturk’s party, the CHP, goes to court:

Turkey’s election of a new president headed to court Friday, after opposition deputies boycotted in an effort to deny a 367-vote majority to the nominee, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül. If the resort to the 11-judge Constitutional Court by opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) is successful, it would mean the effective annulment of Gül’s election late in the afternoon by 357 votes of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and a handful of maverick deputies and new parliamentary elections.
Turkey’s unicameral legislature was the scene of day-long, high-stakes political maneuvering, as all sides sought to slalom through arcane procedures and interpretations of the Constitution, resulting in an ambiguous result that could take days or weeks to resolve. The skirmishing turns on a provision that requires a two-thirds majority — 367 votes — to elect a new president in the first two rounds of voting. If a choice is not made in the first two rounds, a final third round only requires a simple majority — 276 votes. After failing early Friday to win the support of independent and minor party deputies, the AKP strategy appeared to be a plan to muddle through two inconclusive voting rounds and put Gül in office on the third. The opposition, however, has countered that a 367 majority must at least be present during voting for the round to be legally completed and a second round authorized.

I wrote one week ago that we could expect more mass demonstrations in the coming weeks in Turkey. A Turkish commenter stopped by and said that I was wrong: there would be no protests. Well, if I were the “I told you so” type of person, I would say so now: “Some 700.000 Turks waving the red national flag flooded central Istanbul on Sunday to demand the resignation of the government, saying the Islamic roots of Turkey’s leaders threatened to destroy the country’s modern foundations.”

A retired government employee said (about Gül and Erdogan): “They want to drag Turkey to the dark ages.”

Ayse Bari on Gül’s headscarf wearing wife: “We don’t want a covered woman in Atatürks presidential palace. We want civilized, modern people there.”

More protests to come I am sure.