Religious Issues Dominate Murder Trial In Turkey

In Turkey on Friday the trial of Alparslan Arslan and eight accomplices began. Arslan is accused of the May 17 shooting in the Council of State, Turkey's highest administrative court, that wounded four judges and killed one. The shooting, according to Reuters, was prompted by Arslan’s anger over a ruling by the court that upheld denying promotion to a Muslim kindergarten teacher for wearing a headscarf outside of the classroom. (See prior posting.) The AP reports that during Friday’s trial, Arslan twice unsuccessfully attempted to escape from toe courtroom to attend Friday prayers. The first attempt came in the morning after the presiding judge refused to interrupt the proceedings so the defendant could go to pray. The second attempt came in the afternoon when Arslan heard the call for prayer from a nearby mosque.