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Opposition charges Turkish PM is hiring thousands of Islamists

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Monday, April 18, 2005

ANKARA — Turkey has been employing thousands of Islamic fundamentalists in violation of its secular constitution.

An opposition parliamentary faction has accused Prime Minister Recep Erdogan of enabling the employment of thousands of Muslims who oppose Turkey as a secular state. The faction said the Islamic fundamentalists have entered all areas of government, including the Education Ministry.

"We can say that thousands of anti-secularists have been employed by the state in accordance with the government's wishes," Ali Topuz, deputy chief of the opposition Republican People's Party, said.

Erdogan has supported the relaxation of rules that had prevented so-called anti-secularists from entering government, Middle East Newsline reported.

At a news conference on April 11, Topuz cited Omer Dincer, the undersecretary of the Prime Minister's office. Topuz said Dincer has called for the toppling of the secular Turkish republic.

"No one can say he is not anti-secularist, because he himself wrote that the principles of the republic needed to be replaced," Topuz said.

Opposition parliamentarians said the military has been concerned over the infiltration of Islamic fundamentalists into civil service. They said Erdogan has also supported the right of women to wear Islamic headdress in civil service. He has also advocated the right of Muslim seminary students to enter universities based on credits obtained from religion classes.


Copyright © 2005 East West Services, Inc.

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