Turks hit streets again amid political crisis

By Hamdi Istanbullu

MANISA, Turkey (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of flag-waving Turks demonstrated on Saturday in the third anti-government protest in a month amid a bitter conflict over the role of religion in the mostly Muslim country's politics.

Marchers called for the presidential candidate of the ruling AK Party, whose roots are in political Islam, to withdraw, demanding Turkey remain strictly secular.

Political tension is running high following a warning from the pro-secular army against the AK Party's candidate, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, and a court decision to annul the first round of parliamentary voting for head of state.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who enjoys a large majority, has hit back with unprecedented defiance, bringing forward elections to July and pushing for constitutional changes to let the people, rather than parliament, elect the president.

But the marchers, carrying flags and a giant picture of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey and symbol of secularism, kept up the pressure on Saturday.

"Turkey is secular and will remain secular," they chanted in the western Turkish city of Manisa.

"Count how many of us there are Tayyip!"

The march follows a million-strong demonstration in Istanbul on Sunday and a protest of hundreds of thousands in Ankara three weeks ago. A fourth was planned later in nearby Canakkale.