In a rare show of unity, Turkey’s main political opposition party, the secular Republican People’s Party, held a rally in Istanbul’s Taksim Square with supporters of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
At the demonstration, dubbed the “Republic and Democracy Rally,” opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu told the thousands-strong crowd that the country’s reaction was a powerful rejection of anti-democratic forces.
“We are all together in Taksim today. Today is a day we made history all together,” Kilicdaroglu told the flag-waving crowd.
“The Turkish parliament was hit by a bomb, however, the parliament did its duty and repelled the coup attempt.”
One demonstrator held a flag with Turkey’s secular founder, Ataturk, superimposed on Turkey’s red, crescent moon banner. He “put in place the fundamentals for this democracy to work in the best way,” she said.
“We’re talking about the coup, not about secularity,” another told CNN’s Nic Robertson. “It’s our business. We can decide it. We can vote for the people who (are) trying to be more autocratic. But now, if there will be a coup, we can’t change it.”
The party opposed the coup attempt and supported Erdogan, but voted against his state of emergency declaration last week, which would give the government sweeping powers.
The secularists have said their denouncement of the coup does not mean they agree with the government measures enacted afterward.
The rally marks a show of solidarity for a country that has struggled to stand together in the aftermath of several terrorist attacks this year.
The gathering was the latest show of public support for the democratic process over the plotters of the failed coup, which had attempted to wrest power from Erdogan’s government in the early hours of July 16.
Government cracks down on Turkish satire magazine
Satirical magazine LeMan, often compared to France’s Charlie Hebdo, says the government prevented it — via a court order — from publishing its edition following the coup, and says it is also facing other threats.
The issue’s cartoon cover features Turkish soldiers facing off against anti-coup protesters, pushed toward each other by giant hands.
“The cover says this isn’t a battleground for Erdogan or Fethullah Gulen — this is our country,” said the magazine’s editor-in-chief, Zafer Aknar.
Gulen is the president’s longtime rival, who has been in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999.
When the cover was tweeted ahead of its publication, protestors gathered at the magazine’s offices, saying, “don’t you know what happened to Charlie Hebdo?” says CNN’s Ian Lee, a reference to the 2015 gun attacks on the French satirists’ office, which killed 11 journalists.
“We should always take political Islamist threats seriously, because they do as they say,” Aknar says. “If not today, tomorrow. When there’s an opportunity.”
Elite troops included in purge
Alongside the more than 9,000 soldiers who were arrested in the coup’s aftermath, Turkey is disbanding its elite presidential guard unit following an attempted coup that left hundreds dead this month, the Prime Minister said. Since the arrests, 1,200 troops have been released, the government said.
Some of the soldiers who seized state broadcaster TRT during the attempted coup came from the presidential guard unit, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told Anadolu state news agency.
“We decided that there won’t be a guards unit in this compound anymore,” he said.
Since the attempted coup on July 15, Turkey has cracked down on various agencies and individuals suspected of having ties to it, including journalists, judges and professors.
Turkey fired or suspended 50,000 people from the country’s institutions and security forces last week. They include judges, teachers, police and journalists.
New decree
The roundup of suspected coup plotters is not the only government response to the uprising.
Under a new presidential decree following the attempted coup, suspects can be detained for as long as 30 days without charge and the government can listen in on all conversations they have with their lawyers.
A three-month state of emergency declaration issued Thursday grants Erdogan new powers to implement the detention measures.
It is expected to be ratified by parliament, where his party holds the majority.
Before the coup attempt, Turkey’s detention period without charges was 24 hours, extendable to as long as four days.
Nephew, aide detained
Turkey has shut down more than 2,000 institutions linked to Gulen.
Erdogan accuses him of being behind the coup attempt and has requested his extradition from the United States.
Gulen and his supporters have said the government is using the state of emergency “to solidify his power and persecute his critics.”
Turkish authorities detained Gulen’s top aide Saturday, according to a source from the President’s office. Halis Hanci, who was taken into custody in northern Turkey, entered the country two days before the military coup attempt, the source said.
Gulen’s nephew, Muhammet Sait Gulen, was also detained, Anadolu reported.