Turkey in turmoil: Shoe is thrown at Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan while in Spain by Kurdish nationalist

First it was a shoe which barely missed George Bush in Iraq, this time it was a man who threw his shoe at Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Seville, Spain, on Monday evening.

The 20-year-old protester shouted "Viva Kurdistan" as he made the attack, although he missed his target and his shoe hit Mr Erdogan's bodyguard. The attacker was taken into custody.

Note EU-Digest: In the past several days, Turkey’s long-simmering military/Islamist tension surfaced yet again. On Monday night, dozens of serving and retired officers were arrested, including some of the country's highest-ranking former generals and admirals. Speaking separately about the plot and the arrests, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (on a visit to Spain) and President Abdullah Gül took pains to wave off any claim of the ruling government's involvement in the arrests, putting the responsibility for the investigations and arrests back on criminal prosecutors.

The Turkish military clings to its role as protector of the modern Turkish state, established by the father of modern, secular Turkey, Kemal Ataturk, against domestic and international enemies, intervening to depose three elected governments and executing prime minister Adnan Menderes, the leader of Turkey's first opposition party, in 1961.

In addition, Turkey continues to be split between modern secularists and devout Muslims, who press for a religious texture to their state. The continuing effect of Turkey's long-term repression of its Kurdish population (derisively labeled "Mountain Turks" by the government); a deep, centuries-old suspicion of Greece; and the attendant conflict over Cyprus, and a continuing animosity between Turks and Armenians that reaches back (at least in the modern era) to Turkish pograms against its subject Armenian population during World War I are further problems.

For more: BBC News - Shoe thrown at Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan