There is a brief but interesting article about this guy in today's Weekend Australian magazine, and it paints a grim picture for Turkey.

In the past, Turkey's army took control when a leader tried to drive the country towards being an islamic state. But earlier this year Erdogan ordered the arrest of 86 generals and servicemen, the culmination of a long campaign by his party against the army, and since coming to power in 2003 he has been quietly filling the bureaucracy with graduates from the country's religious schools.

http://www.crethiplethi.com/a-muslim-can-never-commit-genocide/global-islam/2009/

“It’s not possible for a Muslim to commit genocide.” (in defence of the sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir)

http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/2213.htm

Turkish PM Erdogan in Speech During Term As Istanbul Mayor Attacks Turkey’s Constitution, Describing it As ‘A Huge Lie’: "Sovereignty Belongs Unconditionally and Always To Allah"; "One Cannot Be a Muslim, and Secular"

http://www.thelocal.de/society/20100317-25933.html

Erdogan advocated that turks living in foreign countries  should take out citizenship in their new homeland with the aim of becoming politically active, not in the interests of assimilating.

islamics are crazy illogical front bottoms
all islamics are muslims

go bugger yourself annie

Be honest Abu. Would the destruction of secularism in Turkey be followed closely by the destruction of democracy and then freedom?

Democracy is a fragile thing. It must be protected from those who would destroy it, even if they are elected. A good example is Hitler. No-one would have considered it undemocratic for the Germans to remove him and reinstate democracy, even though he was elected. Likewise, if secularism and democracy are the same thing for Recep, the militrary has a moral and constitutional mandate to prevent him from destroying it. This must be done before it is too late.

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Can you explain why he said this?

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My concern is for Turkey's democracy. If I thought they were to get rid of secularism but maintain democracy, I would not have a problem. But I think that is unlikely.

Also, secularism is important to protect freedom of religion. Again, not directly linked to democracy, but also important.

Ultimately, I think secularism is necessary for both democracy and freedom. By secularism I mean avoiding institutional connections between government and religion. This still allows religion to play a strong role via democratic processes.

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You have to have regular elections. Electing a leader once and then turing into a doctatorship is not democratic.

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I suspect you are missing the point. People can have all sorts of motives (usually power lust) for overturing a democracy. Democracy must be protected, whatever the ideology of the wannabe dictator.

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No. For democracy to function there must be a balance of power. Putting too  much power in the hands of one individual or group inevitably leads to problems. Obviously this balance is a bit problematic in a Muslim country where so many oppose democracy.

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As far as I know, Turkey's military has always promptly returned power to the people via democracy.