Turkey is in the throes of a constitutional crisis with profound implications for the country and the world. Over the past six years this nation, which throughout the 20th century had a powerful secular tradition, has been governed by a democratically elected Islamic party that is well respected in Europe. But the ruling Justice and Development party, the AKP, is now in trouble. That is because the country’s traditional secularists, backed by Turkey’s powerful military, have begun a series of actions that are little short of a coup against the AKP and its leaders.

The trigger for this conflict was a recent decision by the government to allow Islamic headscarves to be worn by women in public universities. To western observers, that would hardly seem an issue to warrant a big political clash. But in a country with Turkey’s secularist culture, it has caused profound offence among the traditional establishment.