Turks argue en masse for preserving their democracy

Turkish democracy is not yet dead. That hundreds of thousands of Turks on Saturday afternoon in a vast park in Maltepe, a distant suburb in the Asian part of Istanbul, with a massive protest demonstration against the recent arrest of the mayor of the Metropool, Ekrem Imamoglu. It was the biggest demonstration in Turkey in more than a decade.

With a deafening cheers and a lot of waving with red-white Turkish flags and pennies of the CHP, the party of Imamoglu, the giant crowd responded to a letter from the captive mayor who was read in Maltpe. « I’m not afraid, you are behind me and by my side, » he wrote. « I have no fear because the nation is united, against the oppressor. »

Although the protest was organized by the CHP, the most important opposition party, there were also many Turks who usually do not support the party. They realize that the elimination of Imamoglu, which, according to opinion polls, would have a good chance to deduct President Erdogan from the next elections, would mean a fatal blow to Turkish democracy. Certainly because the President had already shown the media and the judicial device.

« I usually do not vote CHP, but it is really of the utmost importance that we defend democracy in Turkey, » says a broadly suspended accountant of an international dye company in Istanbul who came to manifestation with his wife, adult daughter and son.

He would rather not give his name. « You see those men, » he says, pointing to some men with green coats and sunglasses who are here and there between the crowd. « Those are often still from the police. » His 70-year-old neighbor, a retired manager of the now closed Airport Atatürk, therefore does not want his name in the newspaper.

Pens and pencils

The police are also present with thousands of uniformed agents. They force the demonstrators by going a few locks, where many are questioned. Journalists must hand in their pens and pencils. « They can serve as a weapon, » a policeman explains, without apparently being aware of the ambiguity of this.

« Turkey is starting to look more and more like North Korea, » complains Melike Demirag (68), a singer who has come to the demonstration with a friendly journalist in Turkey. « Even Imamoglu’s lawyer was arrested for some time on Friday and did you see those cameras next to the inspectors? They probably registered our faces. There is almost nothing left of our freedoms. »

The realization that there is a lot at stake these days is not limited to the fellow citizens of Mayor Imamoglu, who was also elected as a national presidential candidate for the CHP last week in the next elections that are in principle planned for 2028.

« We came to Pamukkale with two buses full of demonstrators in Anatolia, eight hours from here, » says Olbay, a 26-year-old economy student. « It is not so much about imamoglu as about the fact that Turkish democracy is seriously threatened. We have never experienced such an arrest of the most important opposition leader. We have to oppose that. »

Olbay points out that Erdogan has been in power for 23 years. « Almost as long as I live I have never known a different president than Erdogan. That is not part of a democracy. » According to him, corruption among the current government has also increased sharply.

Olbay also prefers to give his first name alone. Many students are concerned that they otherwise have problems with the authorities. The day before the demonstration in Maltepe, a young man says next to a university building in the center of Istanbul that he once participated in a demonstration. His companions – two young women and two young men – not at all. They underline that this does not mean that they support the Dogan government, but they are afraid of any consequences.

A Swiss student of psychology, who has been in Istanbul for some time in the context of the Erasmus program, therefore prefer to avoid demonstrations. « I have heard that several foreign students have already turned off the country after they had participated in demonstrations, » he says, sitting on a bench next to the metro station at the university.

Although the protest was organized by the CHP, the most important opposition party, there were also many Turks who usually do not support the party.

Kemal Mustafa Atatürk

All speakers at the demonstration, including Mansur Yavas, Imamoglu’s colleague from the capital Ankara, underline – as expected – their support for Imamoglu and Turkish democracy. In that light, it is somewhat surprising that the same speakers often also mention Kemal Mustafa Atatürk, the father of modern Turkey and more than a century ago the founder of the CHP. After all, Atatürk is known as a powerful innovator in many areas, but he was by no means a democrat. Atatürk governed the country as autocratic as Erdogan now.

But that science does not seem to bother many demonstrators. At a certain point the crowd scanned in full breast: « We are the soldiers of Mustafa Kemal. » Deniz, a middle -aged woman, runs cheerfully with a placard, where she asks the question: « Where do you want to be in five years? » She then answers it: « I want to follow the path of Atatürk, that’s the right way. » By that she mainly means, when asked, she explains atatürks consistently secular policy.

Although not everyone apparently has the same views on democracy, the hundreds of thousands of demonstrators left by a pleasant spring sun, generally apparently satisfied Maltepe, although the effect of their impressive demonstration will be uncertain. « Protesting is actually the only thing we can do, » notes singer Melike Demirag somewhat left.

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