ISTANBUL - More than 1,000 people gathered outside Istanbul's Fatih mosque after noon prayers Friday to demonstrate in memory of Chechen leader Aslan Maskhadov, slain Tuesday by Russian troops.
"Maskhadov is dead, but the freedom struggle continues," Bulent Yildirim, president of the Islamist Association for Human Rights and Freedoms (IHH), told the crowd. "I call on all Turks to help Chechnya combat Russian imperialism."
The IHH was one of several Islamist or pro-Caucasus groups that called for demonstrations in memory of Maskhadov Friday in this Muslim majority country that is home to numerous communities from the Caucasus region.
The demonstrators, estimated at about 1,500 by the police, waved Chechen flags and bore effigies of Russian President Vladimir Putin as they chanted "Putin, murderer, out of Chechnya," "Free the Caucasus, neither America nor Russia," "Martyrs won't die, the resistance won't stop."
The Anatolia news agency reported that similar demonstrations took place without incident in several other cities across Turkey, where the Chechen cause enjoys some popular support despite the government's official stance of non-interference.
Relations between Turkey and Russia remained cool for several years as the two accused each other of respectively supporting Chechen and Kurdish separatist movements.
Ties improved after a recent exhange of visits by Putin and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
03/11/2005 13:24 GMT