Protests for the Republic 2007
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The Protests for the Republic 2007 ( Turkish : Cumhuriyet Mitingleri ) were a series of peaceful rallies and demonstrations in Turkey in spring 2007 , in which a noticeably large number of women took part. They were directed against a possible Islamization of Turkey by the ruling AKP and spoke out in favor of Kemalist secularism as part of the Turkish constitution .
prehistory
In 2007 the term of office of the Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer ended . Prime Minister Erdoğan and then Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül , both members of the AKP , were discussed as successors . Erdoğan had attended a religious İmam Hatip school before switching to the state education system . He described himself as a follower of Sharia law and had said in a press conference 14 years earlier that it was impossible to be a Muslim and a laicist at the same time ( Hem laik hem Müslüman olunmaz ). Other statements made by him read:
“Democracy is not a goal, but a way”. "The system that I want to establish cannot be contrary to God's commands". "My frame of reference is Islam". "
Since it came to power in 2002, the AKP has made repeated attempts to loosen the headscarf ban at Turkish universities, expand Islamic classes, limit alcohol consumption and place devout Muslims in key positions in the state apparatus. The wife of the presidential candidate, Abdullah Gül , had led a campaign by the AKP's predecessor party FP against the ban on headscarves in universities, sued the ban before the Strasbourg ECHR and lost. Gül also said in an interview with the British Guardian in 1995 : “we definitely want to change the secular system” and “this will be the end of the Turkish Republic”.
This prehistory of Gül and Erdoğan led to fears that Turkey might give up its secular character as defined in the constitution in favor of Islamization . The highest Turkish education authority, of which all Turkish university rectors are members, said at the beginning of April that the state president had to preserve Turkey's secular values. At the same time, the Turkish chief of staff, Yaşar Büyükanıt , said that as a “citizen and member of the armed forces ” he hoped that a candidate would be elected for president who was “loyal to the principles of the republic - with deeds, not just words”. This statement was generally interpreted as a warning to Erdoğan. The incumbent President Sezer also warned in a speech at the military academy in İstanbul of the threat of Islamization, and the danger was greater than ever before.
Rallies
The first rally took place on April 14th in Ankara on Tandoğan Square in front of Ataturk's Anıtkabir mausoleum . It was organized by the ADD and had 100,000-300,000 participants, including the leader of the CHP , Deniz Baykal . The motto of the rally was: Cumhuriyetine Sahip Çık (German: “stands up for your republic”). Many participants appeared with the Turkish national flag . The slogans were u. a .: "Turkey is secular and will remain so", "Defend the republic, tomorrow it could be too late", "Erdoğan, do not put our patience to the test" and "We do not want an imam as president" (an allusion on Erdoğan's visit to a religious school).
The AKP was unaffected by the rally, its spokesman pointed out that his party could mobilize ten times as many supporters. On April 18, the chairwoman of the business association TÜSİAD said she could not imagine Erdoğan as a candidate for the presidency. On April 24th, Abdullah Gül announced his candidacy for the office of president. The elections in the Turkish parliament on April 27 and May 3, 2007 were boycotted by the opposition party CHP, so that Gül did not achieve the two-thirds quorum required for the election . The Turkish Armed Forces warned against the abuse of religion for political purposes and stated that they were ready to defend secularism. The business association TÜSIAD spoke out in favor of new elections on the same day.
In this situation, the second mass rally took place in front of the Abide-i Hürriyet Freedom Monument on Çağlayan Square in İstanbul on April 29th . It was organized by several women's associations, including the Çağdaş Yaşamı Destekleme Derneği (German: "Association for a contemporary life"), whose chairman, Türkan Saylan, emphasized the need to protect the republic and secularism. The number of participants was estimated at one million, many of whom came from other parts of the country. There was again a noticeably high number of women among the demonstrators.
On May 3, the Turkish Constitutional Court, at the request of the CHP , declared Gül's election as state president null and void. A day later, parliament set new elections for July 22nd.
On May 5, further demonstrations took place in Manisa , Marmaris and Çanakkale with tens of thousands of participants, organized by the ADD.
On May 13, Mother's Day , a mass rally took place on Gündoğdu Square in İzmir , to which several women's associations called. The number of participants was estimated at 1.5 million. According to estimates by the city administration, 200,000 people came to the city by the sea on ferries. After a bomb dumped in a market the day before killed one and injured fourteen, the police presence was high. Some of the protesters wore paper hats that read: "No to Islamic law, no to the military coup, for a democratic Turkey," in which they spoke out against the military's threat to intervene in the presidential election.
Further rallies took place in Samsun and Denizli the next weekend .
In the elections on July 22nd, the major parties succeeded in increasing their number of votes, and the AKP subsequently had a comfortable government majority. On August 28, Gül was elected President in the third ballot. The AKP failed to achieve the two-thirds majority required for the first two ballots.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e mass protests in Istanbul: "I don't want to go to school with a headscarf!" , SPON, April 29, 2007
- ↑ a b Secular rally targets Turkish PM , BBC News, April 14, 2007
- ↑ a b c Women's Protest in Turkey: The Stuff that Fears Are Made of, SPON, April 30, 2007
- ↑ Recep Tayip Erdogan's System , Die Welt, July 20, 2007
- ↑ Klaus Kreiser : History of Turkey, From Ataturk to the present . Beck, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-406-64065-0 .
- ↑ a b c Turks fear Islamization , Handelsblatt, April 16, 2007
- ^ Turkey academics oppose PM's run , BBC News, April 5, 2007
- ↑ a b Mass protest against Erdogan's candidacy , Der Stern, April 14, 2007
- ↑ Erdoğan aday olmayacak , Hürriyet, April 18, 2007 (Turkish)
- ↑ BBC News, April 28, 2007, excerpt from a statement by the Turkish Armed Forces.
- ↑ Laik Türkiye için Çağlayan'a , Hürriyet, April 29, 2007 (Turkish)
- ^ One million Turks rally against government , Reuters, April 29, 2007
- ^ Turkey's Parliament approves early elections to settle debate on political Islam , San Diego Union Tribune, May 3, 2007
- ↑ a b 3 miting 3 mesaj , Hürriyet, May 6, 2007
- ^ Secularists stage mass protest in Turkey , New York Times, May 13, 2007
- ↑ a b Son kez Samsun'da , NTVMSNBC, May 15, 2007 (Turkish)
- ↑ Mass protests against Islamization , FOCUS, May 26, 2007
