Turks Rally against Alleged Judge-Killing Fascislamist

Thousands of Muslims marching in the streets demanding justice is no longer news. However in Turkey yesterday, there were thousands, mostly Muslims, marching in defense of secularism after a self-described “soldier of Allah” allegedly shot a judge to death in a courtroom. They view the attack as an assault on the foundations of modern Turkey, and they are not wrong.

Judge Mustafa Yucel Ozbilgin died of gunshot wounds yesterday and four others were injured when Aslan Alpaslan declared himself to be a “soldier of Allah” and opened fire. He had papers on him (that may or may not have been forgeries) stating he was a lawyer, and therefore, entitled entrance into the courtroom. Whatever his profession, it is unlikely he was entitled to a weapon in the court, and someone either dropped the ball or collaborated with him in getting the Glock passed security. Two other people are under arrest.

The attack on Judge Ozbilgin wasn’t random. The Council of State, as this court is known, had handed down a ruling barring the promotion of a school headmistress because she wore a headscarf. Turkey, despite being 99% Muslim, has an extreme legal distaste for wearing “Islamic” clothing, in keeping with the secular nature of the modern Turkish republic as founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk after World War I. He wasn't discriminating against Muslim women, since he banned the “fez” cap as well as a sign of backwardness with his laws on dress promulgated November 25, 1925.

The court's headscarf ruling has upset many of the Islamic extremists in Turkey, and some who are not so extreme, including Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, what one might call a moderate anti-secularist. That said, he and a great many others who think the dress-code could be relaxed a little condemned the attack. The PM said, “Wherever it comes from, such an attack cannot be condoned. I condemn it and it will be punished.” Ahmet Necdet Sezer, the country’s President, said: “This will go down as a black mark in the history of our republic,” adding, “pressure and threats will not intimidate the Turkish judiciary, which will continue its constitutional duties bound to the secular and democratic republic.” Kemal Anadol, an opposition MP, told a crowd (to no small applause), “The existence of the secular republic is officially under threat.”

And so they marched to the tomb of Ataturk, thousands upon thousands. A couple of Turkish flags waved, and a few baseball caps covered heads, but no headscarves could be seen in the photos of the marchers. Ataturk himself said, “Culture is the foundation of the Turkish Republic,” adding that his nation’s ideology was “a creation of patriotism blended with a lofty humanist ideal.” As previous totalitarians have found, and as the proponents of Fascislam are discovering, people will fight for that kind of nation because it is worth it.

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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