Turkey holds divisive polls to end political crisis

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ANKARA, July 22 (AFP): Turks go to the polls Sunday for early legislative elections to end a crisis that has pitted the Islamist- rooted government against the secular establishment and called into question the role of religion in the Muslim-majority country.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to win a solid victory in Sunday's polls despite accusations that his Justice and Development Party (AKP) is seeking to undermine the separation of state and religion.
Erdogan, 53, rejects the charges and says that the AKP has disowned its radical past and remains committed to the country's secular tradition and Western orientation.
But the issue has sharply polarized society ahead of the elections in which more than 42 million people will cast votes in what some analysts said will be a test for the 83-year-old republic.
"The results of the elections will constitute a difficult test for our democracy," former foreign minister Ilter Turkmen wrote in the mass- circulation daily Hurriyet.
Tensions came to a head in April when the AKP tried to install a former Islamist as president, prompting a stiff warning from the military that it will step in to protect the secular order if need be.
Millions of Turks took to the streets in mass demonstrations against the AKP and the secular opposition blocked the presidential elections in parliament, forcing Erdogan to bring parliamentary elections forward from November.
According to the latest opinion polls, the AKP will garner some 40 percent of the vote on Sunday, well above its 34 percent showing in the previous election.
The staunchly secular main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) was tipped to come in second place, while the right-wing Nationalist Action Party was expected to return to parliament after an absence of five years.
Several independent lawmakers, mostly members of the pro- Kurdish Democratic Society Party, are also expected to win seats.