Turkey: President vows to protect secular state

Turkey's president, backed by 40,000 chanting marchers, has sounded a warning that the country's secular status will not be overthrown after a judge was shot dead by a suspected Islamist terrorist. In an apparent warning to the Islamic-rooted government, President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, himself a former judge, said the shooting "is indeed an attack on the secular republic." In an apparent warning to the government and pro-Islamic newspapers, Sezer said Thursday that "those who provided the reason for this attack must review their attitudes and behaviors." He also cautioned that "no one will be able to overthrow the (secular) regime."