Activists and parties rallied in several Turkish cities, subjected to a harsh crackdown by security forces. Advocacy group calls police action an "arbitrary and illegal attack". A female journalist was harassed by a plainclothes agent.  President Erdogan attacks protesting, calling them “vandals”.

Istanbul (AsiaNews) – Turkish security forces yesterday marked Peace Day by arresting scores of people taking part in marches and rallies organised by political parties and advocacy groups in a number of cities, including Istanbul, Ankara and Diyarbakır.

Against this backdrop, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan verbally attacked teachers calling them “vandals” for taking part in a street demonstration in the capital that ended with a violent reaction from police. Turkish teachers are not new to joining strikes and protests.

Also yesterday, Kadıköy, a residential area on the Asian side of Istanbul, saw hundreds of people try to take part in a march organised by the Istanbul Labour, Peace and Democracy Forces, an advocacy group.

Before the rally could get underway, agents surrounded the area and prevented it from starting; in doing so, they triggered the protest by those already present who tried to force the blockade.

At that point the police doused protesters with pepper spray and made dozens of arrests, including three members of the "Mothers for Peace” group.

Speaking about the police and its actions, the Free Lawyers Association (ÖHD[*]) noted that at least a hundred people were arrested in what it calls an "arbitrary and illegal attack".

Law enforcement also targeted journalists present to report on Peace Day; one female journalist complained that she was sexually harassed by a plainclothes officer.

“I was both prevented from following the news just as my colleagues, and physically harassed by a police officer,” Bianet reporter Tuğçe Yılmaz said.

The Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP[†]) also organised rallies and marches in the Kurdish-majority provinces of Van and Şırnak, with its co-chairs addressing thousands of people.

“The peoples in Turkey and everyone who wants democracy and justice must oppose wars. We have to create the largest anti-war alliance,” said Mithat Sancar, an HDP member in the Turkish parliament.

“They are preparing for war against the people who live beyond this border, most notably the Kurdish people. The policies of invasion continue in southern Kurdistan,” he explained, referring to Turkey cross-border military activities in Syria and Iraqi Kurdistan.

For their part, teachers have become the last labour group to attract the ire of President Erdogan, following protest yesterday in Ankara stained by the violent crackdown by police.

Responding yesterday to calls from teachers to boycott exams, due to be introduced in November, Erdogan described the move as a “malicious attempt to use our teachers as political material.”

Teachers' unions and main opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu have launched a boycott campaign, stressing that they are unnecessary and pose an additional burden on staff.

“Are you an architect of education or are you one of those who walk around as a looter?” Erdogan asked a teachers’ appointment ceremony in Ankara. “We need teachers who will mingle with our children, not those who wander the avenues and streets.” 

In Turkey “vandal” is a loaded term, which the Turkish president has used against anti-government demonstrators during the Gezi Park protests in 2013.

The president and his supporters now use the word against anyone who participates in demonstrations, regardless of the nature of the protest.

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[*] Özgürlük İçin Hukukçular Derneği.

[†] Halkların Demokratik Partisi.

• turkey
• protests
• teachers
• unions
• peace
• day
• democracy
• erdogan
• crackdown
• fascism
• racism
• colonialism