(Reuters) – Turkey’s staunchly secularist military shunned the President’s Republic Day reception on Friday night, attended for the first time by his headscarf-wearing wife, in a snub to the country’s pious rulers.
In the past President Abdullah Gul had given two separate parties, pandering to secularist sensitivities by conducting the higher-profile evening affair without his spouse, but this year he held just one event, which she co-hosted.
The military held a separate party, Turkish media reported, demonstrating the lingering divide between the secularist old guard and the rising class of conservative Muslims, epitomised by Gul and Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.
via Turkey’s military shun reception with first lady | Reuters.