Erdogan is trying to convince Turks to also change the form of government from the current parliamentary to a U.S.-style presidential one, with himself at the helm. The opposition says his real aim is absolute power without the sort of checks and balances that limit executive excesses elsewhere, amid speculation in the media that a referendum on a new constitution could be called this year. Erdogan cannot be sure that a majority of Turks would accept a presidential system in such a vote, with some polls saying support for his plan is as low as 35 percent.

That is why remarks by Parliamentary Speaker Ismail Kahraman about the need for an Islamic constitution came at a bad time for Erdogan. Kahraman, a member of Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), told a conference in Istanbul on April 25 that secularism should not even be mentioned in the planned new constitution. “We are an Islamic country,” Kahraman said. “There has to be a devout constitution.”

Secularist opposition leaders as well as AKP politicians and Erdogan himself immediately spoke out against Kahraman’s idea. Opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu called on Kahraman to resign. Erdogan said he supported secularism as a system in which “the state keeps the same distance to all faith groups, including atheists, and where all faith groups are under the protection of the state.” Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the AKP’s draft for a new constitution would include a “liberal understanding” of secularism. Eager to get the unwanted controversy off the agenda, Davutoglu said the matter was closed as far as he was concerned.