Hundreds thousands of people took to the streets to demonstrate dissatisfaction with the leading Party of Justice and Development (AK) having put up a candidate of Islamist descent for president. 

The AK’s programme is founded on political Islam. The possibility of Erdogan’s candidacy has divided this mostly Muslim, but secular country.

-- Turkey is secular and will remain secular – the protesters shouted, waving national flags and the pictures of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk who advocated the separation of state and religious during his rule.

-- This is the largest protest ever held in Ankara – said the leader of the chief opposition’s Republican People’s Party, Deniz Baykal.

Party officials will meet on April 18 to decide who will be their candidate for the presidential elections, but Erdogan says he does not expect a final decision until April 23.

-- We warn parliamentary officials. We are concerned that Turkey’s secular character will be removed if Erdogan or Bulent Arinc (member of the AK and parliament president) are elected president – said a retired teacher, Huseyin Ozen.

The charismatic Erdogan is the most popular Turkish politician, but public polls have shown that most people do not want him as the president.

Look at the mass protests in Ankara in the PHOTO GALLERY