By Andrew L. Jaffee

Ever since Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an and his AKP Party came to power in Turkey, the secular legacy of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk has been steadily eroded. But as “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,” Turkish secularists are waking up. From the BBC:

Tens of thousands of Turks have turned funeral ceremonies for a judge shot by a suspected Islamist gunman, into a mass show of support for secularism.

They waved Turkish flags and chanted for the country to remain secular on marches through the capital Ankara. …

The attack is believed to have been linked to the court’s record of strictly upholding the ban on Muslim headscarves in universities and government offices.

The government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which has Islamist roots, has been campaigning for the regulations to be relaxed or removed. …

Earlier, at least 15,000 protesters, from students to judges dressed in their robes, marched to the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern, secular Turkey.

“Turkey is secular and will remain secular,” many chanted, in a procession broadcast live on national television. …

The secular President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, who was applauded as he attended the funeral, warned that “no-one will be able to overthrow the [secular] regime”.

Sometimes the worst brings out the best…