Turkey marks Ashura Day with events

Being observed on the 10th of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar, Ashura Day is celebrated in Turkey with consecutive events.

While some Muslims celebrate Ashura as the revered day when the Prophet Noah's Ark landed on Mount Cudi, located in the southeast of modern-day Turkey, others commemorate the day as the death anniversary of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Imam Hussein, in Iraq's Karbala.

Turkey's top religious official, Ali Erbaş, has expressed his desire for brotherhood and unity among Muslims in a message he released on the occasion of the day.

Erbaş noted that Karbala, in the awareness of unity and brotherhood, which is Hussein's ideal, instructs Muslims to stick together more and to always be on the lookout for evil centers working to incite strife and mischief.

Turkey's Caferi community of Shiite Muslims held a parade and commemoration event in the eastern province of Kars, where the community has a big presence, to mark the suffering of Hussein 1,382 years ago.

A large crowd dressed in black and wearing headbands gathered at the Hazreti Ali Çarşı Mosque for speeches by community leaders and marched on the streets amid mourning chants as they beat their chests and flogged themselves with chains.

Some burst out crying, while other mourners carried symbolic coffins. Women wearing black dresses also joined the march with Zulfiqar swords in their hands.

In different provinces of the country, the day was commemorated at iftar dinners organized with the participation of city officials and leading religious figures.

Known as the Second Fitnah in Islamic history, the killing of Hussein was caused by a political dispute, where the army of the ruler of Umayyad...