03.04.2025

A sea of red and white

It was to be a test of strength. As it was, some 2.2 million turned out in Istanbul’s Maltepe Park. Esen Uslu reports on the latest and biggest anti-regime protest yet

Political protest continues … and it continues to grow. This is, of course, in response to the arrest of Ekrem İmamoğlu, the Republican People’s Party (CHP) mayor of Istanbul and president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s only serious rival. Already some 2,000 have been arrested.

Last Saturday, March 29, was to be a test of strength. The CHP opposition had announced its rally at an officially authorised site, Maltepe Park, located on the Asian side of the Bosphorus Strait, on the far outskirts of the city. In response Erdoğan’s government declared a nine-day holiday to celebrate the Eid Al-Fitr, which marks the end of fasting month of Ramadan. This was meant to see students and many workers leave the city and return to their home areas. The hope was to limit the number of demonstrators. Nonetheless, some 2.2 million turned out. The park was a sea of red and white (the colours of the Turkish flag).

Incidentally, Maltepe Park is an artificial land extension created by dumping excavated earth and rock from the city’s newly constructed metro lines. Taksim Square, the traditional focus of political demonstrations in the heart of the city, has been denied to the left for some time now - especially when it comes to May Day. Maltepe Park was created very much with politics and social control in mind. It is designed to push the masses out from the centre of Istanbul and put them not just into a recreational ‘open space’, but into a ‘safe space’ that can be policed, monitored … and contained. Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann, the counterrevolutionary architect of modern Paris, would have been proud.

Cool it

Compared to the last few weeks’ spontaneous demonstrations that took place in Saraçhane Square, in the middle of the city over four nights despite repeated bans, the decision by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) governor to allow the Maltepe Park rally was a clear attempt to lower the temperature, when it comes to the growing public anger at the arrest of Erdoğan’s main presidential rival, İmamoğlu. Something the CHP leadership clearly welcomed.

The stated aim of the Maltepe demonstration was to protest against the fact that Ekrem İmamoğlu is being kept in indefinite detention until a trial is organised at a convenient time in the future. The demonstration, which was called under the slogan of ‘Freedom to İmamoğlu’, was a far cry from the spontaneous Saraçhane ‘Government should resign’ slogans shouted by the new generation of youth now taking part in street politics.

The different composition of the Saraçhane and Maltepe demonstrations is also revealing. The CHP needed to keep the support of mobilised youth for its political ambitions, but also to keep them under strict control in order to prevent the upswell of anger gaining the upper hand and start running the political show. The Maltepe demonstration had a traditional CHP feel - orderly, mainly middle-aged, and transported from all corners by CHP organisers. It was big, but lacked the dynamism of youth.

While the size of the crowd disguised the lack of dynamism and the conservatism, the Turkish flags, Atatürk posters, the CHP’s nationalism, the anti-Kurdish slogans and the absence of a single youth speaker on the podium were indicators of how the CHP is afraid of losing control to fresh and dynamic forces. Normally a social democratic party is given a certain oomph by its youth organisations, but in the case of the CHP various parties to its left are now fulfilling this role.

At the end of the demonstration, two resolutions were adopted. One of them was to start a petition campaign for İmamoğlu and for an early election. The text to be signed is as follows:

I am one of the tens of millions of patriots whose hearts beat for the republic, democracy and justice. I am the national will!

On March 23, 15.5 million citizens chose Ekrem İmamoğlu as the presidential candidate in the primary election organised by the Republican People’s Party. Ekrem İmamoğlu, who became the presidential candidate with the will of millions, is kept in prison by a political decision against the law, reason and conscience.

I have never for a moment stopped believing in the good days to come for my country. I want Ekrem İmamoğlu to regain his freedom; I want the ballot box to be set up as soon as possible, where there will be a democratic, fair and honest race.

I want this unjust and unlawful regime to end. I am signing to see my candidate by my side and the ballot box in front of me.

As readers can well appreciate, the text had very limited aims, but it is designed to channel the anger of the masses into a safe signature collection campaign. The stated aim is to collect more signatures than the number of votes Erdoğan won in the last presidential election.

Boycott it

Meanwhile, a CHP resolution was publicised to extend support for the boycott campaign initiated by the university and high-school students, who are boycotting their lectures until imprisoned students are released. This will be combined with the consumer boycott called by the CHP leadership to protest against the industrial and commercial groups that control the mainstream media closely linked to the Erdoğan regime. After the Eid al-Fitr, the three-day celebration marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, April 2 was declared the day of consumer boycott, when people were called upon to make no purchases on that day.

After some initial confusion, the representatives of some state-controlled business associations and trade organisations began to object to the boycott call. What was said by one of them is telling: “The idea of calling for a consumer boycott is part of global imperialism’s operations against national states and national attitudes - a new generation of actions based on violations of law.”

As you can see, our bourgeoisie is quite anti-imperialist when its sales revenues are threatened! The ministry of the interior called on businesses to sue those who call for boycotts. Maybe prosecutors will take the hint to open criminal cases.

AKP rhetoric in defence of the ‘national and local’ goes hand in hand with its defence of ‘law and order’. As expected, the most venomous attacks in this regard came from Devlet Bahçeli, the ailing leader of the Nationalist Action Party (MHP):

The streets are not the solution. If those who are called to the streets are confronted by others, as was the case on July 15, how will the inevitable confrontation be prevented, how will incidents be avoided? Would the provocateurs, who are calling people to streets, be found at that time or would they have already left the country?

An obvious threat of calling out the armed AKP militia and Grey Wolf gangs onto the street to counter the opposition demonstrations, as happened during the coup attempt on July 15 2016. Not that the judiciary will be moving against these people who are “inciting public hatred and anger.”

The CHP made only a few attempts to involve other forces which have also been alienated by the AKP’s recent policies. One of the attempts involved holding a public Iftar - the ritual evening meal that ends the daily fast during the month of Ramadan. The Iftar, held in Saraçhane Square, was an attempt to bring pious people into the ranks of the opposition. It was held on March 26, which was the Laylat al-Qadr, the holiest night of the Ramadan. However, it remained a half-baked attempt, hardly differing from large public Iftar meals organised by many municipalities.

Where is the left in all this? It should be able to stand out, well apart from the CHP, and provide a different leadership. However, as it requires different politics and forms of organisation, the task ahead is quite daunting.