In the past, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has spoken out against the active restrictions on wearing the Islamic-style head scarves in government offices and schools, and taken steps to bolster religious institutions.

According to the Guardian Unlimited, Erdoğan showed his Islamist nature when he initiated a move in 2004 to criminalize adultery, which eventually failed under intense pressure from the secularist forces in the country and the European Union, which Turkey has been trying to join.

[17] In a press conference two days prior to the demonstration, Büyükanıt stated: "We hope that someone is elected president who is loyal to the principles of the republic — not just in words but in essence."

[16] The serving president, Ahmet Necdet Sezer, aimed a clear swipe at Erdoğan the day before the demonstrations by stating, "The threat which Islamic fundamentalism poses to the country is higher than ever.

His candidacy was controversial from the beginning due to his background of two proscribed Islamic political parties, and his statement "We want to change the secular system", in an interview published by the Guardian in 1995.

[5][25] According to the Ministry of the General Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces, who administer Anıtkabir, 370,000 people visited the monument on that day,[26] but eyewitness accounts from those who participated say that at least twice that amount was not able to enter the crowded grounds (see photo).

[3] Erdoğan has had run-ins with the law in the past: He was tried and convicted for "inciting religious hatred" and had consequently served a four-month jail term in 2000 while he was the Mayor of Istanbul, Turkey's most populous city.

[16] The protest was initiated by the "Atatürk Thought Association" (Turkish: Atatürkçü Düşünce Derneği) and supported by around 300 non-governmental organizations in Turkey.

People travelled by train and the residents of Ankara joined the protest overfilling Tandoğan Square and the nearby streets two hours before the official beginning.

Among the protesters were also leaders of the opposition parties, Deniz Baykal (CHP), Zeki Sezer (DSP) and some professors of various universities wearing academic regalia.

[31] On 16 April in an interview en route to Germany on board the prime minister's jet, Erdoğan said that the demonstration would not affect his decisions (at the time he had not yet decided whether to run).

[35] On 18 April Arzuhan Doğan Yalçındağ, the president of the Association of Turkish Businessman and Industrialists (TÜSİAD), stated that she felt Erdoğan would not stand as a candidate in the presidential election.

[37] Jonathan Rugman, a British reporter in Turkey for the Guardian, had published an article on 27 November 1995 following an interview with Abdullah Gül, who was then a member of the Welfare Party and made remarks such as "the Republican Era is over" Turkish: Cumhuriyet döneminin sonu gelmiştir.

[38] Immediately following the announcement, a group of 14 people was arrested for gathering to protest his candidacy in front of the Çankaya Palace (the presidential complex).

[43] Later the same day the Turkish Armed Forces released a statement warning that they are a party to this debate and the absolute defender of secularism, and that when necessary they would display their attitudes and actions very clearly.

[14] Hundreds of thousands to more than one million gathered for the second protest at Abide-i Hürriyet (Monument of Liberty) in Çağlayan square in Istanbul in support of secularism in Turkey and against the candidacy of Abdullah Gül in the 2007 presidential election.

[45] At 15:30, Tuncay Özkan, owner of Kanaltürk, displayed a video of several statements by the then prime minister Erdoğan to the square full of protesters.

[45] On April 30, the Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan told he would address the country amid the crisis over the presidential election that has pitted secularists, including the army, against his Islamist-rooted government.

[59] Late that night Sabih Kanadoğlu, a former justice in Turkish High Court of Appeals, objected the early vote and argued that it was unconstitutional.

[61] On May 3 Turkey's Parliament moved up elections to July 22, 2007, after the Islamic-rooted ruling party and its secular opposition agreed that an early ballot was the only way out of their standoff over political Islam.

[68] Founder of Borusan Holding Asım Kocabıyık stated that if the AKP gained 50% popular support in the upcoming general elections the country would be lost.

[72] Foreign (non-Turkish) press also reported the expectation of a presidential veto on the AKP's recent amendments to the Turkish constitution.

[42][76] On 12 May a bomb placed on a bicycle was detonated in a market in İzmir wounding fifteen people just a day before the scheduled "republic protest" in the city.

[11] Reportedly over one million people gathered in İzmir for the rally to demand their country remain a secular state, stepping up pressure on the Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) government before July elections.

[9][80] Leaders of the three leftist parties, namely Deniz Baykal of the CHP, Zeki Sezer of DSP, and Murat Karayalçın of SHP were also among the demonstrators.