We won’t intervene in ‘standing man’ protest, unless it breaks public order: Turkish minister

ISTANBUL / ANKARA

'We don’t intervene in any protest that does not break public order or affect life in general,' Interior Minister Muammer Güler said. DHA Photo

Interior Minister Muammer Güler has said the disobedience protest launched by a “standing man” in Istanbul’s Taksim Square will not be subject to an intervention unless it constitutes a menace against public order.

“We don’t intervene in any protest that does not break public order or affect life in general,” Güler said.

“If it doesn’t turn into an act of violence, does not break public order, or does not limit other people’s freedom, everyone has such a right [to stage a protest],” he added.

Güler stressed that this protest should not affect the traffic, and excluded the legitimacy of ongoing protests in Ankara’s Kızılay district that continue from morning till night. “These are all about public order,” he said.

Standing is not a crime: Bar Association head

Meanwhile, the Union of Turkish Bar Associations head Metin Feyzioğlu also clarified that the standing man’s act was not a crime according to the Turkish Criminal code.

Though the detention of a person standing still on a pavement would have a provision in the Turkish Criminal Code, the policeman would at least be guilty of “malpractice” or “restricting freedom.”

“If a person does not block traffic and does not break public order, he can stand. The police cannot intervene,” Feyzioğlu said.

“‘Standing’ does not constitute a crime by any means,” he said, adding that there was no stance more democratic than this. “Humanity cannot find a more democratic type of protest,” he said.