The leader of Turkey’s main opposition party on Sunday completed a 25-day “March for Justice” from Ankara to Istanbul and joined hundreds of thousands of supporters at a rally against a large-scale government crackdown on opponents.
Republican People’s Party leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu launched the 450km march after a lawmaker from his party was imprisoned last month.
The march grew into a protest of the massive clampdown on people with alleged links to terror groups that began after a coup attempt in July last year.
Photo: AFP
“Why did we march?” Kilicdaroglu said, addressing the rally. “We walked for the non-existent justice. We walked for the rights of the oppressed, for the imprisoned lawmakers, the jailed journalists... We walked for the academics who were thrown out of universities.”
Tens of thousands of people joined Kilicdaroglu throughout the march in scorching heat, chanting “rights, law, justice,” and hundreds of thousands greeted him at the Istanbul rally waving Turkish flags and flags emblazoned with the word “justice.”
“No one should think the end of this march is the end. This march was our first step,” Kilicdaroglu said.
He called on judges and prosecutors to act independently and according to their “conscience” instead of in line with the wishes of “the palace” — a reference to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
He also called for an end to a state of emergency that was declared following the failed coup that has allowed the government to rule by decrees with minimal input from the legislature.
The Republican People’s Party did not allow party flags or slogans during the march because it wanted the event to be non-partisan.
Party officials said more than a million people attended the closing rally.
The government has accused Kilicdaroglu of supporting terrorist groups through his protest and Erdogan has said he is violating the law by attempting to influence the judiciary.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Sunday also arrived in Istanbul to accept an oil industry award and to meet with Erdogan and Turkey’s foreign minister.
Ordinary citizens, sacked public employees and high-profile figures have joined Kilicdaroglu on his march.
Novelist Asli Erdogan and leading Kurdish politician Ahmet Turk, both released from jail pending trial on various terror-related charges, as well as Yonca Sik, the wife of a prominent journalist who is in prison, were just a few.
Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahin said 15,000 police officers were providing security at the post-march rally.
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