Dread
It’s scary when they start shooting up judges. Very scary, in the same way it’s scary (terrifying, actually) when there are Congressional representatives willing to try to pass legislation as grotesquely unconstitutional as the mockingly-named Constitution Restoration Act, and when an angry (and thoroughly corrupt) senator threatens judges from the floor of the Senate. It’s scary when theocrats start to target the judiciary, because in a secular state, the judiciary is the only institution that can block majoritarian moves to establish theocracy.
And they know that in Turkey. They are scared, and they’re pissed.
Tens of thousands of people have marched through the Turkish capital, Ankara, in protest at the killing of a judge by a suspected Islamist gunman. Protesters waved Turkish flags and chanted slogans that the country must remain a secular state. A man calling himself “a soldier of Allah” shot dead Judge Mustafa Yucel Ozbilgin and wounded four others at a top administrative court on Wednesday…Correspondents say the attack may have been linked to the court’s record in upholding the ban on Muslim headscarves in universities and government offices – a decision condemned as illegal by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose ruling party has Islamist roots…The gunman reportedly burst into a committee meeting of the Council of State, shouting “Allahu akbar!” (God is great) as he fired his weapon…”This massacre attempt is directed against the secular republic. We strongly denounce it,” said the statement read by Sumru Cortoglu, chairwoman of the Council of State.
Bad, bad, very bad.
The Turkish newspapers are interesting. Bekir Coskun in Hurriyet for instance:
Whether they have a gun or a bomb in their hand, their target is the same: To wipe out the secular republic, to prevent modernity and civilization and push Turkish society into a way of life from the Middle Ages, to make Sharia law dominant.
Bad.
Well, don’t go thinking the Democrats are the secular party, or anything like that. We don’t have one. (Come to think of it, neither do you, unless the Lib Dems count.) They’re not afraid of Xians, they are Xians, except for the few who are Jews. Nonreligion is not an option for political figures here.
Ophelia, I checked in again after a long time interested to hear your opinion on the de-Dutch-ifying attempted at Ayaan Hirsi Ali. But I found nothing. Did this news not make it across the Atlantic?
JoB
I’m so annoyed at the gutless Dutch establishment, I’m seriously considering boycotting skunk.
I have to say that I had been concerned about the possibility of Turkey joining the EU and did not think it was a good idea. But if their enthusiasm and attitude to protecting the secular nature of their state from attack by deranged obscurantist theocratic murderers is anything to go by, I could be persuaded to change my mind.
Holland on the other hand: you may as well hand it over to the Iranian mullahs. The Dutch people and their government have succeeded in hounding Ayaan Hirsi Ali out of the country, something the Islamists never quite managed to achieve on their own.
Hi JoB,
Yes, the news has made it across the Atlantic, and I have several links to articles in News. I just haven’t said anything here yet. Time shortage. I have a pile of work to do right now.
Unless religiously affiliated, they are secular parties. You mean secularist – I often find secularists to be slapdash in observing the distinction, which further allows them to play fast and loose with the concepts.
_
one of the judges who survivded made a statement. she said that
the psychotic killer never uttered a word during his killing spree. he did not say Allahu akbar or anything else.
The plot has been unraveled and secularist mafia gangs formed by expelled military officers are behind it all. They were aiming at creating chaos and bringing down the pious party from office. Those millitary officers btw, were expelled from the army because of criminal acts like robbing a casino, extortion, racketeering etc.
Kahraman – interesting, any news links on this one ?
No. I looked hard and could find nothing at all. I rather think there’s nothing to find.
The pious party.
That says enough for me, as Islam is fundamentally incompatible by definition with pluralism. It’s like the Borg, you are assimilated, or else.