Some 40,000 protesters took to the streets of Turkey today to noisily support their country's secular traditions, a day after a suspected Islamist militant shot dead a judge.If it comes down to a conflict between Islamic fundamentalist democracy and military secularism in Turkey, I'd side with the latter--and I would hope (and pray) that the Bush administration will finally drop its "faith-based" "democracy-building" foreign policy--aka spreading worldwide Islamic revolution.
Members of Turkey's pro-Islamist government were booed as they attended memorial services, and the Turkish President issued a warning that "no one will be able to overthrow the (secular) regime".
The entire leadership of the Turkish military, which has led three coups in the past and regards itself as the guardians of secularism, lined up beside the flag-draped coffin of Judge Mustafa Yucel Ozbilgin, at his funeral today.
“This is slavery, not to speak one's thought.” ― Euripides, The Phoenician Women
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Turks Demonstrate for Secularism
The London Times reports: