Thousands of Turks chanted in defence of secularism today as they buried veteran leader Bulent Ecevit, best known for winning EU candidacy for Turkey and invading Cyprus in a five-decade political career.
Crowds keen to protect Turkey's official secularism booed Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan - whose party's roots are in political Islam - as he arrived at the state funeral in Ankara.
"Turkey is secular and will remain secular," chanted members of the crowd, which a police official estimated at 50-80,000.
Mainly Muslim Turkey is officially secular but defenders of secularism suspect the AK Party government of having a hidden Islamist agenda.
The funeral chants follow a demonstration by secularists last Saturday, and in May some 25,000 marched in defence of secularism at the funeral of a judge shot dead by a suspected Islamist gunman.
Mr Ecevit, who attended that funeral, said earlier this year that the government posed a threat to the secular order.
Secularists concerned that Erdogan may run for president - which he has not ruled out - shouted: "Cankaya (the presidential palace) is secular and will remain secular!"
Supporters of Ecevit, the former prime minister who had a stroke in May and died on Sunday aged 81, wore and carried pictures of the leftist nationalist politician. Some cried, waved flags and chanted: "Ecevit, man of the people."
Unionists and miners wearing helmets joined the crowd, and the huge funeral was also attended by members of the cabinet, former presidents - including one who interned Ecevit after a 1980 military coup - and the leader and former leader of the Ankara-backed enclave in northern Cyprus.