This doesn't sound good at all. Now couple it with items like Mein Kampf being a recent best-seller, recent films, etc.
If Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Islamiist AK Party's intent is in fact to end the secular Attaturk model in Turkey, these incidents could constitute indications of that. Worse, if that was in fact his goal, the approach outlined by these indicators appears to have good odds of medium-term success. I'd be interested to hear some credible folks with deeper backgrounds re: Turkey and its politics poke into these issues.
UPDATE: We ask, our commenters deliver. Here's a couple more links and books to check out.
I just finished reading The Kemalist: Islamic Revival and the Fate of Secularist Turkey by Muammer Kaylan, a Turkish journalist. He grew up during the days of Ataturk and is clearly devoted to the Kemalist ideals. He sees the country on the verge of disaster, mostly through politicians covering their sins in a cloak of Islamic piety. He traces these political moves back a good twenty years--he was in exile for most of that period.
The book has a certain whine of grinding axes, but it's interesting to read on many levels.
The source of military.com is likely to be Middle East Forum on this issue. It was already posted months ago.
Green Money, Islamist Politics in Turkey
http://www.meforum.org/article/684
You should also be able to find more related articles from the Special Dispatch section of MEMRI.
Thanks for that recommendation, John.
I've just been reading Turkish Reflections: A Biography of a Place, which is a travel/memoir book published in 1991, and even then there was a creeping religiosity that was disturbing to the secular educated middle classes.
My sense from Turkish friends is that there is a growing disconnect between the urban/educated/middle-class Turks who publish books, speak English to tourists, and want to join the European Union and the poor/rural/"Eastern" (which is often a synonym for Kurdish) Turks who find solace in religion 'cause they sure won't find it anywhere else. Of course, my Turkish friends are almost all urban, middle-class and embarassed by their government, so I suspect they do not represent a majority view.
A couple of interesting recent posts on the topic, through the magic of TinyURL:
http://tinyurl.com/zo5lk
http://tinyurl.com/zxfad