Turkish PM accused of undermining secularism

"Turkey’s leading businessmen have launched a fierce attack on the government, accusing it of undermining the country’s secular traditions and of losing interest in joining the European Union."

"In Friday’s unusually pointed broadside that will have wide political repercussions, they said the government, which has its roots in political Islam, was eroding Turkey’s prestige by pursuing a religious agenda and other policies that had raised doubts about their commitment to reforms and to upholding the independence of institutions.

The criticism is a clear sign of the extent to which Turkish business leaders have lost confidence in the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The prime minister, who is increasingly on the defensive domestically, has had rows with business before. But political observers said Friday’s comments were the sharpest since the government was elected in late 2002.

Turkish stocks and the lira have tumbled in recent weeks as part of a sell-off in emerging markets. But Omer Sabanci, chairman of Tusiad, Turkey’s influential big-business lobby, said the rout had been worsened by waning confidence in the government and in the sincerity of its reform drive.

“Rather than talking about reforms we talk about religious issues,” he said, voicing a sentiment widely shared among secular Turks. “The rising prestige of Turkey over the past three years is starting to be eroded” because “market confidence in its political stability and the sustainability of reforms has been shaken,” he said."

FT.com / Europe / Brussels briefing - Turkish PM accused of undermining secularism