Funeral of Bulent Ecevit, 5-time Turkish premier, turns into anti-Islamic protest

"Turkey is secular and will remain secular," thousands of people shouted when Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived at the Kocatepe mosque for funeral prayers for Ecevit, who died on Nov. 5 at age 81, after nearly six months in a coma following a stroke.

Ecevit, a respected pro-secular political force in Turkey for almost half a century, served five times as Turkey's prime minister. He was best known for ordering the 1974 invasion of Cyprus, which led to the division of the Mediterranean island, but made him a hero at home. His decades-long struggle for workers' social rights also made him popular with the working class.

The anti-government protests during his funeral on Saturday underlined growing concerns about the increasing role of Islam in this predominantly Muslim but officially secular country.

The crowd booed Erdogan even louder as he left the mosque. Several other government members and Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc from Erdogan's Justice and Development Party were targets of similar protests.

Erdogan reacted angrily to the protest during a speech at his party congress later on Saturday.

"Who of you is saying this? You are saying this to someone who is struggling" for secularism, he said. "Is there anyone who is working against it that you are saying this to? These are not nice things."

Since taking power in 2002, Erdogan has increased secularists' concerns by speaking out against restrictions on wearing Islamic-style head scarves in government offices and schools and by supporting religious schools. He also tried to criminalize adultery before being forced to back down under intense European Union pressure, and some party-run municipalities have taken steps to ban alcohol.

Erdogan's government denies it has an Islamic agenda. It has shown a commitment to joining the EU by enacting some sweeping reforms that allowed the country to start membership talks last year. But Erdogan's administration came under strong EU criticism for prosecuting journalists and writers under repressive laws curbing freedom of expression.

Many secularists in Turkey are increasingly concerned Erdogan might become president after the staunchly secular President Ahmet Necdet Sezer retires in May. Parliament, dominated by Erdogan's lawmakers, will elect the new president. Erdogan would have to give up the premiership.

A former Constitutional Court judge, Sezer has vetoed a record number of laws that he said violated the secular constitution, and has blocked government efforts to appoint hundreds of reportedly Islamic-oriented candidates to important civil service positions.

Turkey's strict secular laws separate religion and state. Many fear that, if left unchecked, Islamic fundamentalism will lead to a theocracy like that in Iran.

Ecevit was seen as a defender of Turkey's secular regime, and tens of thousands of mourners, some weeping and throwing red carnations, thronged his funeral procession.

"People's Ecevit!" the crowd chanted, as his flag-draped casket was placed on a gun carriage towed by soldiers.

The funeral was originally planned for Wednesday, but was moved to Saturday according to the wishes of Ecevit's wife, Rahsan, so that workers across Turkey would be able to attend.

Thousands of workers, wearing yellow or red protective helmets, marched behind the coffin under an overcast sky.

Political leaders and foreign dignitaries attended a state funeral at the parliament building.

More than 10,000 police and paramilitary police officers closed several roads to traffic for the funeral procession, and flights over the capital were canceled for security reasons. Snipers were posted on balconies and rooftops.

People were seen waving from balconies or windows in tears.

Ecevit's 82-year-old wife, Rahsan, marched just behind the military hearse for 8 kilometers (5 miles) to the state cemetery, where the burial took place.

Parliament on Wednesday amended a law to allow prime ministers to be buried alongside presidents at the state cemetery in the capital.

Ecevit's body was lowered into a grave under floodlights, after a nine-hour funeral procession. Prayers for the dead were chanted, and officials shoveled soil onto the casket as a sign of last farewell. The Associated Press

/The International Herald Tribune/