'Red Sunday' in Istanbul

A few images of a particular event in Istanbul today:


Murad Sezer / The Associated Press


Reuters



Hürriyet


Hürriyet

Looking at these images, one might think that it is national holiday in Turkey at the moment, or that Turkey just won the FIFA World Cup, the Eurovision Songfestival, or the Miss Universe beauty contest. In the worst case one might think that Turkey just gained its independence after a mythical war against imperialist powers... But none of these are the reason for this 'Red Sunday' in Istanbul.

The pictures above are taken during a demonstration¹ in favor of secularism and against the ruling AK Parti.² Surprised? You shouldn't be! In a country like Turkey it is quite normal to combat 'religious threats' with national symbols like flags, war veterans and pictures of the founding father (did you notice that I used the singular form?)!

It doesn't make sense to you, does it? Well, let us continue then. Drawing the Turkish flag on your cheeks and walking together with war veterans, while holding a massive picture of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, surely won't topple the AK Parti government! But these things do represent the issue as a matter of national existence (!), especially if you do this on a massive scale, like in the demonstration today.

So, what happens if national existence is threatened? Apparently, this question was asked much earlier by some very special people: read this.

I'm eagerly waiting for the moment the generals will say: "We have changed!".

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1. For more about the demonstration see:
- "Hundreds of thousands rally against government in Istanbul" (IHT, 29/04/07)
- "Massive pro-secular demo in Turkey" (Al Jazeera, 29/04/07)
2. The AK Parti (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi; English: Justice and Development Party) is a political party founded by former members of the Fazilet Party and the Refah Party, the latter being the predecessor of the former. Both of these parties were suspected of anti-secular activities and were subsequently closed down by court decision. The AK Parti, under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, declared that it was following another path than its predecessors and regularly expressed its attachment to the secular establishment. Especially Erdoğan's historical statement "I have changed!" became very popular in the Turkish political scene. Many secular Turks, however, have been rather sceptical about these statements.