Explainer: Islam in Turkey

The attempt to close the AKP was triggered in February by a constitutional amendment - since annulled - lifting the universities' ban on the headscarf, long suspected by the secular establishment as a symbol of political Islam. But the 161-page indictment compiled by the chief prosecutor, Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya, alleges numerous other anti-secular moves, including attempts to clamp down on alcohol by local authorities. In the town of Denizli, the mayor is said to have tried unsuccessfully to force licensed premises to move to a ghetto on the outskirts. In Kayseri, an AKP heartland, there are no longer any bars and alcohol is served only in the Hilton. Proposals to bring in halal food standards were never enacted but have led to many firms feeling obliged to apply them, prosecutors say. Some teachers point to a surge in religiouseducation. Health professionals have also reported a rise in cases of religious female doctors declining to treat male patients and husbands refusing to allow their wives to be treated by male doctors. Alevis, a heterodox sect that shuns many traditional Islamic practices, complain of being subjected to "neighborhood pressure" - with devout locals checking to see if they are fasting during Ramadan and inviting women to Qur'an-reading sessions, at which they must wear headscarves.