Kamil Pasha

Photos from Zaman

A diverse crowd of thousands of people (Zaman claims 20,000) marched in Istanbul on Saturday to support democracy and to protest the coup that many believe is occurring as a result of the Constitutional Court case against the ruling AK Party. A variety of non-governmental organizations were represented and the march occurred without incident. The march was not covered in most Turkish newspapers except Islam-friendly Zaman. (For the article in Turkish, click here)

Photo from The New York Times The signs reads: In 1980 we were small, but now you are. [referring to the 1980 military coup]

The New York Times, however, covered the march and the issues surrounding it in a long article on Sunday. Click here for full article. Here is an excerpt:

On Saturday evening, a diverse crowd of several thousand people marched in central Istanbul, blowing whistles, banging drums and carrying round, pink signs that read, “Make Noise Against Coups.”

“This is the first time that people are speaking out against coups,” said Hilal Kaplan, a graduate student shaking a soda can filled with corn. “People were really angry. It filled up in us over all those years and now it’s coming out.”…

The [Constitutional Court] indictment accuses the party of trying to turn Turkey, a secular democracy, into an Islamic state, a charge that Mr. Ergin contends is “political, not legal.”

Even Turkey’s liberals, who would be among the first to speak out against Islamic activism in government, agree with that assessment. Many see the case as the last stand by Turkey’s secular old guard — a powerful class that includes the military and judiciary — that is against the ropes and trying desperately to hang on to power…

“They are playing their last game,” said Baskin Oran, a professor of international relations at Ankara University. “The military is no longer able to make coups. The last line to hold onto is the constitutional court.”…

The party that is supported by the old guard, the Republican People’s Party, known as C.H.P., the initials of its Turkish name, says Mr. Erdogan is packing ministries with his own people and must be stopped to preserve the secular nature of Turkey….

Another worry about Mr. Erdogan, liberals say, is that he is simply replacing Turkey’s current elite with his own. The fear is that without a sincere effort to strengthen institutions, for which there is less incentive now that A. K. controls so many of the important political posts, Turkey will remain just as troubled.

If A.K. wins, “it will not necessarily mean that democracy wins in this country,” said Mithat Sancar, a law professor in Ankara. “But if it loses, democracy will lose.”

In a troubling sign, a company with strong links to Mr. Erdogan — its top manager is his son-in-law — bought the newspaper Sabah in February in an auction with no other bidders with financing from state banks, a purchase that even party members were hard pressed to explain….

Real change hurts, and many liberals argue that Mr. Erdogan pushed it too far too fast. A constitutional amendment that would allow women wearing head scarves to attend universities was rushed through Parliament without adequate explanation of its limits, Mr. Oran said.

“We warned them 1,000 times to make this clear, but they didn’t,” Mr. Oran said. “Now not only do they have to pay for it, but we have to pay for it, too.”

Tags: AKP closure case, Headscarf Debate, Politics, Rights //