Anti-Erdogan Rally Ends in Turkey: Kilicdaroglu Opposes the “Second Coup”
Nuray Lydia Oglu, Sawako Uchida, and Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey is increasingly creating the space for division and discord based on his policies of power concentration. Indeed, it seems that forces loyal to Erdogan are doing the real coup. Therefore, the “justice march” is an important sign that major opposition is open to demonstrating against Erdogan’s authoritarianism.
Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), bravely walked from Ankara to Istanbul in order to given enormous credence to the “justice march.” Equally important, he created a space for various groups to come together and show the ruling elites of Turkey that the forces of democracy remain strong.
The Hurriyet Daily reports, “The 25-day-long march from Ankara to Istanbul, a distance of around 426 kilometers, has been completed with the participation of thousands of marchers from a wide range of social segments, who say they are standing up for justice regardless of their political stance.”
Not surprisingly, Erdogan used loaded language by accusing the CHP of collaborating with terrorist groups and sinister forces outside of Turkey. Erdogan indicated strongly that the CHP was “acting with terrorist organizations and the forces inciting them against our country.”
However, according to Kılıçdaroğlu, the CHP and people who supported the “justice march” are in the vanguard of preserving democracy. Kılıçdaroğlu said, “We marched for justice, we marched for the rights of the oppressed. We marched for the MPs in jail. We marched for the arrested journalists.”
He further stated, “We marched for the university academics dismissed from their jobs. We marched because the judiciary is under a political monopoly.”
Reuters reports, “About 50,000 people have been arrested and 150,000 state workers including teachers, judges and soldiers, have been suspended.”
Kılıçdaroğlu said passionately, “The last day of our Justice March is a new beginning, a new step.”
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-40547972
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-security-march-idUSKBN19U0O2
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