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| Europe |
| 12,000 secular Turks march against radical Islam |
| 2006-11-05 |
| Thousands of secular, nationalist Turks marched in the capital Saturday, vowing to defend the secular regime against Islamization and urging the government not to make too many concessions in order to gain European Union membership. Some 12,000 people waved Turkish flags as they marched to the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, in a show of loyalty to secularism. "Turkey is secular and it will remain secular," marchers chanted. Turkey's staunchly secular President Ahmet Necdet Sezer will retire in May, and the parliament will choose the new president. Although largely ceremonial, the presidency has become a symbol for secularism under Sezer. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #7 Good start. That's about 0.017 % of the population there. |
| Posted by: Kalle (kafir forever) 2006-11-05 17:36 |
| #6 Hint. You don't cure cancer by marching. This follows warnings by the Turkish generals that they will not allow sharia to be made the law of the land. Signals are being sent. |
| Posted by: lotp 2006-11-05 14:31 |
| #5 I welcome it as a start. Now let's see it start permeating their talk, behavior, and actions. |
| Posted by: gorb 2006-11-05 14:25 |
| #4 Hint. You don't cure cancer by marching. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2006-11-05 04:50 |
| #3 Obviously some sort of ploy....or...too little, too late. Contrarian, these are secular Turks who oppose an Islamic state. That said, all this indicates is that their collective survival reflexes are still operational. What really needs to be seen is 12,000 moderate Muslims on a march against radical Islam. From all indications, they sleep with the crickets. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-11-05 02:26 |
| #2 I'm glad to see it -- hopefully there will be lots more of the same ongoing, until the secularists regain control of their country. The current trend under the Islamists is not a good thing. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-11-05 01:00 |
| #1 Obviously some sort of ploy....or...too little, too late. |
| Posted by: Contrarian 2006-11-05 00:17 |