12,000 Turks March Against Radical Islam

Las Vegas Sun ^ | November 04, 2006 at 5:50:12 PST | SELCAN HACAOGLU ASSOCIATED PRESS

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -

Thousands of nationalist Turks marched in the capital Saturday, vowing to defend the secular regime against radical Islamic influences and urging the government not to make too many concessions in order to gain European Union membership.

Some 12,000 people from more than 100 pro-secular associations waved Turkish flags as they marched to the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey. "Turkey is secular and it will remain secular," they chanted during a march broadcast live on some TV channels.

Ret. Gen. Sener Eruygur, president of the Ataturk Thought Association and former commander of Turkey's paramilitary forces, warned against alleged plans by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of the Islamic-rooted government to run for president - a symbol of secularism in Turkey.

President Ahmet Necdet Sezer will retire in May, and the parliament - dominated by Erdogan's legislators - will choose the new president.

Eruygur also urged protesters to rally against EU demands to grant greater cultural rights to Kurds and other religious and ethnic minorities.

Turkey is fighting a separatist Kurdish guerrilla group, the Kurdistan Workers Party, in a war that has killed more than 37,000 people since 1984, and many Turks regard granting more rights to Kurds a concession to the rebels.

The U.S. and EU consider the organization a terrorist group.

The European Commission is expected to issue a highly critical report next week accusing Turkey of dragging its heels on political reforms and demanding significant improvements in 2007 if Ankara wants to stay on track to join the bloc.

The draft report, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, says Turkey is failing to meet minimum human rights standards, and cites problems in freedom of expression, women's and trade union rights, and civilian control over the military.

[Earthdweller]

Wow..thousands of Muslims marching against Islamofascists!

This is really great. Shouldn't it be in breaking news?

[camas]

turks do not like Arabs. back under the Ottoman empire they called the Arabs "niggers" or so i was told.

[Mo1]

And the media reported this???

WOW

[penelopesire]

Good news!!

[Unam Sanctam]

Good news. That semi-closeted Islamist Erdogan is not to be trusted.

[Earthdweller]

"And the media reported this??? "

AP...but no pictures. :(

I want pictures!!!

Lots of banners would be nice.

[garyhope]

Several centuries and billions of currencies short.

But hey,...it's a start.

[Earthdweller]

I found this one photo on the ABC site...jerks showed the only counter protester but not the crowd.

A Turkish man shouts anti-government slogans as thousands of pro-secular, nationalist Turks march to the mausoleum of Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, 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, in Ankara, Saturday, Nov. 4, 2006. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)

Turks March Against Islamic Radicals .

[darkwing104]

This is what we need to see more of more people of the world standing up against terrorists.

Muslims! take back your religion and let the rest of the world live in peace. If you can't, then there is no hope for you and your kind.

[RightWhale]

vowing to defend

They will, too.

[Chena]

This is great!! BTTT!

[Mo1]

I'm not really surprised

[Fiddlstix]

BTTT

[CottShop]

FINALLY- some response from Muslims who oppose terrorism- My gosh, there should be MASS protests around the world and yet for the most part Muslims are silent which indicates approval of terrorism by way of non condemnation of their acts.

Christian news and commentary at: sacredscoop.com ...

[Vaquero]

Bond and Kerim Bey discuss defending the secular regime against radical Islamic influences

[AirForceBrat23]

This is really excellent. Let's give credit where credit is due - we are always saying that we never see any movement from Muslims to condemn Islamofascism. Hopefully this here will not be an isolated incident.

[Verloona Ti]

The Turks conquered moslems and eventually acquired islam from the conquered. Everywhere else, the moslems conquered peoples and forced islam on the conquered. So there was never any reason for the Turks to fall for the delusion about Arabs being "the best of peoples" because mohammed was one of them, or of any need to adopt Arab mores , as is the unfortunate case in a lot of moslem countries with nonarab ethnicity.

[aculeus]

Bump for Turks!

Great allies in the Korean War.

[CottShop]

While this is good news that Muslims are voicing their dissaproval of redical Islam, let's not forget that Turkey has Dangerous political aspirations of their own. They've indicated that they want a piece of the action going on in Iraq claiming that 'Iraq is attacking them' too- yet, there is a true power struggle going on in the middle east & Turkey has also indicated that they are enemies of Israel. Russia is going to play a huge role in the middle east, looking to reestablish their Byzantine empire which includes all of the middle east, including Turkey, Iraq Iran, Egypt etc- whom they've been supplying arms to, fighting to lift sanctions against & wheeling and dealing in efforts to exhert their influence over hte middle east.

Turkey may very well side with what they see as a more 'secular' Russia, but, they'll be some surprised if Russia goes back to comunism which they're indicating they might.- Don't be fooled, while Turk's may come out against radical Islam, it is only because they have become targets of terrorism & terrorists stand in their way of dominating hte middle east.