Turkish oppn looks to build on march momentum for ousting Erdogan in 2019

Another symbolic aspect of the march is the comparison of its leader K?l?çdaro?lu to Gandhi

“If we’re going to have a true democracy, we have to start with justice,” said Turkish Republican People’s Party (CHP) member of parliament Selin Sayek-Böke.

Sayek-Böke was speaking to an interviewer from the BBC while participating in the 432-kilometre Justice March from Ankara to Istanbul called by the CHP’s leader Kemal K?l?çdaro?lu in response to the jailing of one of the party’s MPs, Enis Berbero?lu. Berbero?lu was jailed for 25 years for leaking footage of Turkey’s MIT security agency sending trucks full of weapons over the border to Syria. The March, which, according to K?l?çdaro?lu, has attracted around 40,000 protesters, is due to end on Sunday, July 9 at the Istanbul prison where the lawmaker is being held.

‘I talked about our #JusticeMarch to @BBCNews. It was literally a breathtaking interview.’

The accusation that Turkey’s government lent material support to terrorist groups in Syria is one about which the ruling Erdogan administration is particularly sensitive. It is one of the main reasons the administration decided to block Wikipedia entirely in May, after two articles appeared on the site mentioned Berbero?lu’s leaks while he was the editor of Hurriyet newspaper in 2014.

President Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) would appear to be in an unassailable position, having won every election since coming to power in 2002, including the constitutional referendum in April 2017 to change Turkey’s politics to a Presidential system that would allow Erdogan to remain in charge until 2029.

Yet the CHP’s Justice March and its obvious symbolism have rattled leading figures in Erdogan’s party. Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said “it is starting to taste sour. It is time to end it,” while Erdogan himself accused the marchers of being allied to the Kurdish PKK militia and Fethullah Gülen’s religious movement—the group the AKP accuses of instigating last year’s 15 July coup attempt. Erdogan has frequently associated his political opponents with terrorism in the past.

Perhaps a key objection is the appropriation of the word Justice—”Adalet”, a core element of Erdogan’s party name—to indicate that the perceived injustice is now coming from Erdogan’s religious conservative movement itself. The AKP was founded as a moderate Islamic party seeking greater freedom of religion for the large number of conservative Muslims who were previously discriminated against in areas of public life such as courts and universities. But now these restrictions no longer exist, this aspect of the conservative platform has lost its meaning. The party itself has become less moderate, as it seeks to expand the influence of political Islam into education, the courts, and the military.

The Justice March approaching Istanbul – Image by Ziya Köseo?lu. Used with permission.