Thousands of Turks march in anti-govt protest

Thousands of anti-government protesters marched in Turkey's capital on Sunday, calling on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to resign for what they say are violations of the country's secular principles.

Turkish television channels put the number of demonstrators at 100,000.

"Turkey is secular and will remain secular," chanted the marchers who gathered in a city center square under the watch of thousands of police officers.

Defending secular Turkey

Hardline secularists claiming to be the inheritors of the line laid down by Mustafa Kamal Ataturk (1881-1938), founder of the Turkish republic, and religious conservatives have struggled for power and influence for decades.

Sunday's demonstration was organized by the Kamalist Thought Association, a group which defends the founder's legacy of a modern, secular Turkey.

The marchers carrying Turkish flags and pictures of Ataturk were headed for the mausoleum of the "father of the Turks," the traditional rallying point of those in favor of secular rule.

Secularists are concerned about the rise of Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) to power since 2002.

They said Erdogan wants to make Turkey more overtly Islamic through incremental steps, like failed attempts to end a ban on the Islamic-style headscarf at universities. The ruling AK Party narrowly escaped a ban last year on charges it was undermining Turkey's secular constitution.

The AKP admit to having religious roots but reject the epithet Islamist.

Turkey's population of 71 million people is 99 percent Muslim, but the state strictly controls religion.

Turkey is secular and will remain secular

Protesters

Amending Turkeish constitution

Demonstrators were also protesting the government's handling of the economy as unemployment reached a record high amid the global economic downturn. Some denounced the so-called Ergenekon probe into a suspected nationalist group accused of conspiring to topple Erdogan's government.

Erdogan pledged to amend the constitution to reform the judiciary and make it more difficult to close a political party on ideological grounds.

The European Union has said Turkey must reform its national charter to guarantee human rights like freedom of religion and expression if it is to make progress in its membership bid.

Millions of people staged rallies in 2007 to protest the government's choice of Islamist Abdullah Gul as president.

Erdogan then called early elections after the secularist military also expressed reservations about Gul's candidacy.

The AK Party went on to win the July 2007 election by the biggest margin in four decades, and the new parliament elected Gul president the following month.

The next general election in Turkey is slated for 2011.