Kamil Pasha

Photo from Milliyet

Yesterday an estimated 25 thousand people marched in Tandogan Square in Ankara in what have been called Republic Meetings (Cumhuriyet Mitingleri) (there was one last year around this date) to support secularism in Turkey and to protest threats to the state. (Organizers claimed 40 thousand participants.) Among the speakers were members of the secularist opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), retired military officers and veterans, artists and professors.

By ‘threats to the state’ is meant such things as the elected government’s move to allow headscarves to be worn by university students (marchers suspect the government of having a secret agenda to impose Islamic law), and by the indictment of a number of people in the Ergenekon case. Ergenekon refers to an illegal gang whose members have been accused of plotting to overthrow the elected Turkish government by creating chaos through assassinations and other criminal acts, paving the way for a military coup. The government has been investigating and prosecuting the group. The group is believed to have links high up in the state and military hierarchies.

Protestors held signs that read, among other things, “Turkey is secular and will remain secular” (the term used is laik, which refers to state control of religion, rather than separation of religion and state); “Ergenekon is a lie, it’s a US game“; “The code to Ergenekon is Fethullah” (referring to the preacher Fethullah Gulen, who heads a popular Islamic association); “We are in the footsteps of our father/ancestor” (meaning Turkey’s founder, Mustaf Kemal Ataturk); “We are Mustafa Kemal’s soldiers“; “This Republic is not without a protector” (sahip; the word also means ‘owner, master’, so this can also be read as ‘We own the Republic’.) “My father/ancestor: As Turkish women, we are in your footsteps, we are guardians of your revolution.” Many participants finished the march with a visit to Ataturk’s tomb. (click for Turkish article)

Tags: AKP closure case, Deep state/Ergenekon, Headscarf Debate, Nationalism, Politics //