Thousands of Turks rally for secularism.Thousands of Turks rally for secularism sec·u·lar·ism n. 1. Religious skepticism or indifference. 2. The view that religious considerations should be excluded from civil affairs or public education. SAMSUN, Turkey - Thousands of flag-waving Turks demonstrated in this Black Sea port city on Sunday against the Islamic-rooted government, which they fear is undermining Turkey's secular system. The demonstration in Samsun - the latest in a series of protests nationwide - was significant, as the city was where Turkey's secular founder, Mustafa Kemal Mustafa Kemal: see Atatürk, Kemal. Ataturk, launched the country's war of independence against occupying powers after World War I. On Sunday, crowds gathered in Samsun's central square and chanted ``Turkey is secular and will remain secular!'' Turkey's secularism is enshrined in the constitution and fiercely guarded by the judiciary and by the powerful military, which has threatened to intervene in the presidential elections to ensure secularism is enforced. Cleric threatens jihad jihad: see Islam. jihad In Islam, the central doctrine that calls on believers to combat the enemies of their religion. According to the Qur'an and the Hadith, jihad is a duty that may be fulfilled in four ways: by the heart, the tongue, the hand, against Pakistan ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - The chief cleric of a radical Islamic mosque and seminary Sunday threatened holy war against the government if authorities use force to free two police officers being held captive by students. The officers were abducted abducted Distal angulation of an extremity away from the midline of the body in a transverse plane and away from a sagittal plane passing through the proximal aspect of the foot or part, or away from some other specified reference point Friday at a seminary attached to the Red Mosque, which has boldly challenged the authority of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's government in recent months. Islamabad police chief Chaudhry Iftikhar Ahmed warned the students that the government was considering all options, including the use of force, to free the officers. ``Imam (head) of the mosque Maulana Abdul Aziz Abdul Aziz is the name of:
``We will not retreat. We will sacrifice our lives,'' Aziz said over mosque loudspeakers amid chants by his supporters. Two held for graffiti on Anne Frank House The Anne Frank House on the Prinsengracht in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, is a museum dedicated to Jewish wartime diarist Anne Frank, who hid from Nazi persecution with her family and four other people in hidden rooms at the rear of the building. AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - Police arrested two teens early Sunday for spraying graffiti tags on the Anne Frank House and several other houses, a spokesman said. The graffiti was not race related. Cleaning crews were removing the graffiti, police said. Two boys, aged 16 and 17, were caught red-handed and arrested but not immediately charged, police said in a statement. They allegedly tagged a photo exhibition and nine houses including the canalside house where Anne Frank  Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank (listen and her family hid from Nazis for 25 months in a secret annex during Germany's brutal World War II occupation of the Netherlands. The house is now a museum that is one of Amsterdam's most popular tourist draw cards. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion