State funeral becomes focus to retain secular state in Turkey
Thousands of Turks chanted in defense of
secularism on Saturday as they buried veteran leader Bulent Ecevit, best known
for winning EU candidacy for Turkey and invading Cyprus in a five-decade
political career.
Thousands of Turks chanted in defense of secularism on Saturday as
they buried veteran leader Bulent Ecevit, best known for winning EU candidacy
for Turkey and invading Cyprus in a five-decade political
career.
Crowds keen to protect Turkey’s official secularism booed Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan — whose party’s roots are in political Islam — as he arrived at the state funeral in Ankara.
“Turkey is secular and will remain secular,” chanted members of the crowd, which a police official estimated at 50-80,000.
Mainly Muslim Turkey is officially secular but defenders of secularism suspect the AK Party government of having a hidden Islamist agenda.
The funeral chants follow a demonstration by secularists last Saturday, and in May some 25,000 marched in defense of secularism at the funeral of a judge shot dead by a suspected Islamist gunman.
Ecevit, who attended that funeral, said earlier this year that the government posed a threat to the secular order.
Interesting comparison to the progress of Islamist fundamentalism in other Middle Eastern nations — eh?
Crowds keen to protect Turkey’s official secularism booed Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan — whose party’s roots are in political Islam — as he arrived at the state funeral in Ankara.
“Turkey is secular and will remain secular,” chanted members of the crowd, which a police official estimated at 50-80,000.
Mainly Muslim Turkey is officially secular but defenders of secularism suspect the AK Party government of having a hidden Islamist agenda.
The funeral chants follow a demonstration by secularists last Saturday, and in May some 25,000 marched in defense of secularism at the funeral of a judge shot dead by a suspected Islamist gunman.
Ecevit, who attended that funeral, said earlier this year that the government posed a threat to the secular order.
Interesting comparison to the progress of Islamist fundamentalism in other Middle Eastern nations — eh?
Posted: Sat - November 11, 2006 at 01:39 PM