Turkey: The Judiciary and the Country's Identity Crisis

Turkish President Abdullah Gul of the Islamist-rooted Justice and Development (AK) Party announced May 20 that he has no concerns over a court ruling that could require him to stand trial on embezzlement charges. Gul has been caught in another battle between Turkey's fractured Islamist movement and the secularist establishment. Though Gul is playing it cool for now, the AK Party has a number of domestic challenges ahead in trying to strike a comfortable Islamist-secularist balance so that it can focus more on an ambitious foreign policy agenda.