VOA: In Turkey the deep divisions between supporters of the secular state and the Islamic-rooted government have reopened again following the death of a well-known secular campaigner. The Tuesday funeral of Turkan Saylan, the founder of a pro-secular association committed to sending girls to school, turned into a rally against the government and in support of the secular state. Turkan Saylan, shortly before her death, became the target of an ongoing probe into an alleged conspiracy to overthrow the government.
Saylan personified Turkish secular state
"Turkey will always be secular," tens of thousands of people chanted as they followed the coffin of professor Turkan Saylan who died of breast cancer on Monday. The 74-year-old human rights activist in many ways personified the Turkish secular state.
Born in Istanbul, in the early years of the Turkish republic, she rose to become a world authority in leprosy and was in the forefront of eradicating the disease in Turkey. But it was her non-stop campaigning for the education of girls, many of them from very poor families, through her Contemporary Life Association, which secured her place in the hearts of thousands of people in Turkey.
"She touched some people lives, she made it so much more beautiful, she gave some many opportunities to children, to students with economic difficulties. She gave them a chance to choose," said a woman. "This is why I am here, this why so many tens of thousands of people are here, because we want to show Saylan we appreciated her, we love her and despite all the work she has done she was treated as a guilty person by the state, and we do not approve of that." >>> By Dorian Jones, Istanbul | Wednesday, May 20, 2009
