Divided They Stand

Usually made of silk or cotton, the type of head scarf favored by strict Muslim women in Turkey typically measures just 1 m square. Yet that small quadrangle of cloth may bring down the nation's government and push its democratic institutions and secular traditions to crisis. On April 29, nearly a million Turkish citizens flooded Istanbul's trendiest downtown district in one of the largest demonstrations the ancient capital has ever seen. The cause of their ire: Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) had named Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, a politician with an Islamist past, to be the next President. More...