Main opposition CHP’s ‘justice march’ enters third week

ANKARA

More than 10,000 people took part in main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu’s “justice march” on its 15th day under sweltering 40-degree temperatures, with Kılıçdaroğlu voicing his determination in the search for “justice.”

“We are determined and committed, whether it is hot or cold, rainy or foggy. We will walk to Istanbul for justice,” Kılıçdaroğlu said at a camping site in the Gökova district of Düzce on June 29, kicking off the 15th day of his 450-km walk.  

More than 10,000 supporters including well-known painter Bedri Baykam, artist Orhan Alkaya and groups coming from cities as far away as Ordu, Samsun, Rize, Trabzon, Giresun and Edirne participated in the march on June 29. A banner reading “You’ll never walk alone” in Turkish was opened on a hill along the way. 

The cortege took a number of short breaks due to rising temperature as they walked to Sakarya province. 


‘I am thankful to protesters’

Speaking to reporters before walking for the day, Kılıçdaroğlu said the march he initiated after the imprisonment of CHP lawmaker Enis Berberoğlu received great support from different segments of society, including those who supported the government in its bid to change the constitution in the April referendum. 

Criticizing the government for its failure to address terrorism, he said those who voted in favor of the constitutional amendment because the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) said it would help “end terror” were “deceived.”

“Think about it. They will not prevent terror. They will not finish it,” Kılıçdaroğlu said, calling for a “joint struggle against terrorism.”

“A terror-free Turkey is a common wish for all of us. Wherever terror arises - whether it is from the [Fethullahist Terrorist Organization] FETÖ, or [the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party] PKK or the [outlawed Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front] DHKP-C, we all have to stand against it honorably without any compromise,” he said. 

Referring to protests staged against the march along the way, Kılıçdaroğlu reiterated his “all-inclusive” attitude. 

“I am thankful to my brothers and sisters in Düzce who believed that they criticized us by showing the Rabia gesture. Those who oppose my political beliefs and those who do not think like me themselves have the right to seek justice and the right to free expression of thought, just as much as I want justice,” the CHP leader said.