From: Guven.Guzeldere%STANFORD.BitNet@pucc.PRINCETON.EDU (hq.ggg)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.turkish
Subject: Mumcu's funeral turns into massive ....
Date: 27 Jan 1993 21:47:27 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
Reply-To: Turkish Cultural Program List <TRKNWS-L%USCVM.BitNet@pucc.PRINCETON.EDU>
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu

 -Mumcu's funeral turns into massive anti-Iranian march
 -Backlash sweeps Turkey after Mumcu's murder

Subject:   Mumcu's funeral turns into  massive  anti-Iranian
march

        ANKARA,  Turkey (UPI)  --  The funeral procession in
Ankara  for  slain Turkish journalist Ugur  Mumcu  Wednesday
turned   into  a  massive  protest  march  against   Islamic
fundamentalism,   with  protesters raising  slogans  against
Iran.
        A  crowd estimated at 30,000  turned out for Mumcu's
funeral, marching from his office in Ankara to a mosque near
the  city  center.  Some estimates put the  crowd  at  about
50,000.
        Among  the  chanted slogans were:  ``Down  with  the
mullahs,''  ``Turkey will never be Iran,'' and ``Iran,  take
your dirty hands off here.''
        In   Tehran,   the  Iranian  government   officially
requested  Turkey to step up security around its embassy  in
Ankara  and its consulate in Istanbul.  The request was made
through the Turkish ambassador in the Islamic Republic.
        Mumcu,  51,  an investigative reporter and columnist
for  the Istanbul newspaper Cumhuriyet,  was killed  outside
his home Sunday when a bomb placed in his car exploded as he
got in.
        Three  Islamic fundamentalist groups,  including the
little-known   Islamic  Liberation  Organization,    claimed
responsibility.
        The  assassination  resulted in a  massive  backlash
against Islamic fundamentalism across Turkey,  with  protest
demonstrations held in several cities,  including  Istanbul,
Ankara, Izmir, Eskiseher and Trabzon.
        About 99  percent of Turkey's population is  Muslim,
but   the  country  is  run  as  a  secular  state  under  a
constitution  introduced by Kemal Ataturk in the 1920s.   It
has  became a model for secularism in several modern  Muslim
states around the world.
        Interior  Minister  Ismet Sezgin told  reporters  11
people  being held for questioning after Mumcu's death  were
of Middle Eastern origin.
        He  did not specifically say if Iranians were  among
them,   but the Istanbul newspaper Sabah said four  Iranians
were detained and were being questioned about Mumcu's death.
        Sezgin  said Turkey was seeking help from  the  U.S.
Central Intelligence Agency to help solve the killing.
        Hurriyet,   another Istanbul newspaper,  said one of
those  arrested  recently in Istanbul was believed to  be  a
member of the group responsible for killing journalist Cetin
Emek in a similar bomb attack three years ago.
        Hurriyet  said the man was an Iranian and an Islamic
radical,   and  police were trying to determine if  the  two
murders were linked.
        Investigations  are also being made to determine why
three policemen who were supposed to have been on guard duty
at  a  point close to Mumcu's house were absent  from  their
posts at the time of the murder.
        In Ankara,  the semi-official Anatolian News  Agency
stopped  work for one hour as a mark of protest against  the
killing.

 =========================================================================
 Subject: Backlash sweeps Turkey after Mumcu's murder

        ANKARA,   Turkey  (UPI)  --  A  secularist  backlash
against  Islamic fundamentalism has swept Turkey  since  the
assassination  two  days  ago of prominent  journalist  Ugur
Mumcu, reports from across the country indicated Tuesday.
        The Istanbul newspaper Sabah said four Iranians were
arrested  in an Ankara hotel after the authorities  launched
one  of the biggest probes in recent history to find Mumcu's
killers.
        Mumcu died outside his home in the Cankaya  district
of  Ankara Sunday when a bomb planted in his car exploded as
he  got in.  His body was found three feet from the vehicle,
and  police said later they found the ignition key still  in
his pocket.
        Reports from Istanbul,  Izmir,  Trabzon,  Eskishehr,
Ankara,   and  other towns across Turkey  suggested  that  a
secularist  backlash  against  Islamic  fundamentalism   was
sweeping the country after Mumcu's murder.
        Protest  marches were organized in most of  Turkey'd
large  cities,  and streams of sympathizers  and  condolence
messages  poured into the offices of the Istanbul  newspaper
Cumhuriyet,   for  which Mumcu worked  as  an  investigative
reporter and columnist.
        A  similar flood of condolence letters and  messages
arrived  at  Mumcu's home,  and a steady  stream  of  people
turned  up  outside the house to lay wreaths and flowers  at
the spot where the assassination occurred.
        Witnesses  said mourners lit candles at the site  of
the  killing for two night in succession.  Turkish  analysts
said  the mourning had turned into a campaign in support  of
secularism  and  democracy,  of which Mumcu  was  a  staunch
supporter.
        In  the  massive  investigation launched  after  the
incident,  police said the explosive used,  decribed only as
``C-4,''  was of the type used to murder an Israeli diplomat
in Ankara in March 1992,  and an American computer expert in
the city in October 1991.
        Since Mumcu had not switched on his ignition, police
were  trying  to  determine if the device was  triggered  by
remote control,  and believed the explosives could have been
fixed to the clutch,  the transmission or one of the  wheels
of the car.
        A   previously  unknown  group  calling  itself  the
Islamic Liberation Organization first claimed responsibility
Sunday  for  the murder,  but since then two  other  Islamic
fundamentalist groups have done so.
        The  semi-official  Anatolian news  agency  said  it
received  a  call  from a group calling itself  the  Islamic
Great  Rennaissance  group claiming responsibility  for  the
murder.
        There  was no immediate evidence the  assassins  had
links  to  Iran,  but some of the  protest  marchers  raised
slogans against Iran and the introduction of the Sharia,  or
Islamic  religious law,  which the fundamentalists have been
demanding.
        Some  99  percent of Turkey's population is  Muslim,
but under Kemal Ataturk's constitution,  in force since  the
early 1920, the country has been run as a secular state.
        Sabah  said the four Iranians taken into custody  in
Ankara were being questioned about the killing, but Interior
Minister  Ismet  Sezgin  side-stepped  questions  about  the
nationalities of suspects being held.
        Iranian  Interior  Minister Abdullah  Nouri  was  in
Turkey  at  Sezgin's invitation as the  investigations  were
going on.
        Sezgin  told reporters the massive hunt for  Mumcu's
killers  had resulted in the discovery of plastic explosives
in  a  house in Istanbul,  similar to the type used  in  the
assassination. Police were trying to determine whether there
was a link.
        Earlier, police discovered automatic rifles, plastic
explosives,   electronic  devices and ammunition in  a  safe
house  in  Istanbul used by the outlawed group Dev-Sol,   or
Revolutionary Left, Hurriyet said.
        The  plastic explosives used to kill the  journalist
appeared to have originated in Eastern Europe, police said.
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