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 ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) - Turkey's presidential front-runner lobbied skeptical lawmakers for their support Wednesday in an elecMacro running .......tion highlighting tensions between the defenders of secular principles and the Islamic-rooted government.
As the ruling party candidate, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul is almost certain to win the presidency in a series of parliamentary votes that begin Friday — a prospect that has unnerved the country's secular establishment. Hundreds of thousands of people recently demonstrated for secular ideals in the capital of Ankara, and another large rally was planned in Istanbul on Sunday.
Still, the ultimate guardian of secularism — the military — has largely shunned the public debate, indicating Turkish democracy is on a more secure footing than in coup-prone days of the past.
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