Islamic

ISTANBUL, Turkey -- When Turkey's newly elected Parliament convenes for the first time today, it may face its first crisis even before members take their oaths of office.A newly elected deputy from the Islamic-oriented Virtue Party, Merve Kavakci, says she will insist on taking her oath while wearing her head scarf.That could lead to a confrontation with the strongly secular political establishment.The head scarf has become an inflammatory symbol in Turkey. Powerful military and civilian leaders consider it a sign of religious militancy and anti-secular beliefs.

CAIRO, Egypt -- Suspected Islamic militants struck the Algerian capital yesterday morning, killing at least 23 people and injuring more than 162, an intensification of Islamic violence in a country struggling to recover from a brutal years-long civil war. One of the bombs targeted the main government building in Algiers, a modern office tower called the Government Palace, killing at least 12 people and wounding 118, according to the nation's official news...

TEHRAN, Iran - Wearing bright dresses of silk and cotton, teen-age models have been strutting the catwalk in Iran - the first fashion show in this country since the Islamic revolution more than two decades ago. In a nation where powerful clerics dictate what women can wear in public, the dresses on display come in a variety of colors, predominantly bright red, blue, bright green and khaki. They are both long- and short-sleeved, and some even reveal cleavage. The show, held as part of a youth fair and open only to women, has drawn more than 16,000 people to a north Tehran exhibition hall.

Like most Americans, Bash Pharoan said, he was stunned to learn about the beheading of Paul M. Johnson Jr. by Islamic militants in Saudi Arabia. But as a Muslim, he also felt a different kind of horror. Pharoan, a physician and president of the Baltimore County Muslim Council, said he fears that the incident will exacerbate Americans' views of Muslims as a violent people. He fears that it could prompt retaliation against innocent Muslim-Americans, many of whom, he said, have been feeling pressure and keeping a low profile since the Sept.

NEW YORK - As they take in the barrage of news about the conflicts in the Middle East and Afghanistan, the teachers and students at Al Noor School, an Islamic day school in Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn, say they try to keep it from affecting their lives within the school. "We don't get into politics here," said Ahmad Hamid, the assistant principal. "We teach them the academics." Many students reported that the teachers had never expressed their personal views on controversial issues in front of the students, some of whom have already formed strong opinions about, say, the perpetrators of the Sept.

JERUSALEM -- Israeli officials said yesterday that a Palestinian shot and wounded in Hebron on Friday is a top Islamic guerrilla who helped organize three of the suicide bombings earlier this year.The guerrilla was identified as Hassam Salameh, whom Israeli army spokesmen described as deputy commander of the Qassam military wing of Hamas, the militant Islamic organization. The commander, Mohammed Dief, one of the Palestinian guerrillas most wanted by Israel, is still at large.According to Israeli army spokesmen, Salameh was captured after the van he was riding in was stopped for a search.

IT IS REASSURING that one of Necmettin Erbakan's first actions as prime minister of Turkey was to promise continuing good relations with the U.S. to a high-ranking American delegation that happened by. The doughty crusader for a more Islamic Turkey had, by the turn of the political wheel, put the relationship in question. But having been a deputy prime minister before, his record is for pragmatism in action contrasting with flaming rhetoric on the stump.Mr. Erbakan's Welfare Party came in first in the December elections, thanks to divisions in the center-left and center-right.

TERRORISTS ARE as much a threat to the secular governments and mainstream societies of Islamic countries as they are to the rest of the world. As the Bush administration scours the world for allies, the main effort must be to isolate Osama bin Laden and his Taliban protectors in Afghanistan from the Islamic world, not drive them together. Many Islamic regimes are anxious to help, though not necessarily to be seen helping. Many harbor and fear indigenous movements of a similar nature. Tajikistan, from which the anti-Taliban alliance operates, has offered help to Washington but not staging areas for incursions.

ANKARA, Turkey - A moderate politician from a party with Muslim roots was named prime minister yesterday, and he proclaimed that his administration would show the world that Islam and democracy could work together. Abdullah Gul, a former economics professor and son of a machinist, became a leading candidate for prime minister after the overwhelming election victory of the Justice and Development Party, which swept aside much of Turkey's governing class in elections early this month. With his party firmly in control, Gul seemed certain to be affirmed in the post when the new Parliament gathers this week.

ISTANBUL, Turkey -- In something of a shotgun marriage, the two leaders of Turkey's rival center-right parties signed a pledge of loyalty yesterday to a new coalition intended to keep a pro-Islamic party from power.One television news program played an upbeat wedding march as it showed footage of the signing ceremony. The Turkish establishment and its Western allies have also greeted with relief the end of a lengthy search for a new government in this NATO ally straddling Europe and the Middle East.