Turkey's army boss warns against religious lifestyle

Turkey's new military chief yesterday warned against a rising "religious lifestyle", a subtle message to the Islamist-rooted AK Party that underscored simmering tensions between secularists and the government.

General Ilker Basbug, in a speech to an audience which included Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, said the military would take seriously any attempt to undermine Turkey's secular principles.

General Basbug's spoke as Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country that aspires to join the European Union, hopes to put behind it a power struggle between the secularist establishment and Mr Erdogan's party over the role of Islam in public life.

"A segment of society thinks that religion is given a great weight in an emerging new cultural identity and lifestyle, and is worried about this development," General Basbug said as he took command of Nato's second-biggest army.

"This concern should be taken seriously. This is compulsory for social peace within the scope of a pluralistic democracy."

Turkey has a secular constitution and the military considers itself the ultimate guardian of the republic founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

Hardline secularists, including the military and judges, accuse the AKP of harbouring a hidden Islamist agenda by seeking to loosen restrictions on religion, such as its failed attempt to ease a ban on Muslim headscarves at universities. Mr Erdogan denies this, and points to his liberal reforms while in office.

The Constitutional Court last month ruled not to close down the AKP but fined it for anti-secular activities. The tensions polarised the country of 70 million and hurt markets. General Basbug said the military's constitutional role was to "protect and preserve the founding philosophy" of Ataturk, who banished religion from public life and introduced Western-style reforms.