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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – A massive crowed, estimated to be in the millions, gathered in Turkey’s largest city of Istanbul on Sunday in a declared show of support for democracy in the country and to protest against the failed July 15 coup. But the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), the country’s third largest party, was not invited to the rally.
"Let the nation be there together," Erdogan said in an interview last week with ATV. He was joined at the rally by Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and leaders of two of the three opposition parties, the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).
Banners flying at the Democracy and Martyrs’ Rally carry slogans like “You are a gift from God, Erdogan,” and “Order us to die and we will do it,” reported Reuters.
In response to the exclusion of HDP, Figen Yuksekdag, co-chair of the party, said that the Kurdish population was being marginalized and warned that the new working relationship between the AKP, CHP, and MHP was too fragile and would fail.
“The AKP and the two opposition parties have reached an agreement on how to run Turkey’s new phase, and in this name they hold a massive supporting rally. But they have to know any agreement without Kurdish participation will fail,” Yüksekdağ said at a HDP rally in Mersin.
“The three parties have agreed to marginalize the Kurds but their agreement will not last since it is fragile because the ruling party intends to rule the country using weapons, pressure, and tricks,” she added.
She recalled an earlier warning by the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Abdulla Ocalan, who had predicted a military coup against the government. “But neither the authorities nor the politicians took his warning into consideration.”
Yüksekdağ drew connections between the faction of the armed forces who staged the coup and the military offensive against Kurds in the southeast of the country over the past year. “The military force which was used to carry out hostile acts against the Kurds in Kurdistan faced and staged a coup against them. And now they claim they are kicking HDP out of the political conversation in the country.”
HDP is holding a rival rally in Batman on Sunday under the title ‘No to Coups, Democracy Now.’
Leaders of the two opposition parties who were invited to Erdogan’s rally, CHP and MHP, proclaimed the event as an opportunity to show their unity and the strength of the nation.
Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the MHP, tweeted that the rally would display the democratic will of the nation, giving confidence to their friends and spreading fear to their enemies.
CHP spokesperson Selin Sayek Böke said that their party’s leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu would be at the rally for the same reason the party was in the parliament in Ankara on the night of the attempted coup.
The rally was first proposed by Erdogan in a July 30 interview with broadcaster ATV. “I have an offer. Let’s make a democracy meeting in Yenikapı on August 7. Let’s be there with the armed forces’ command, artists, and sportswomen and men who contributed to the process [of ending the attempted coup]. Let the nation be there. Let’s invite all the leaders of all the political parties.”
“Let’s be there with the leaders and give our message to all of Turkey from there altogether. It’s very, very important for the normalization process to speed up for our country,” he said, asking the leaders of the parties to deliver individual speeches.
This is the first time in decades that opposition groups have joined a pro-government rally. But the public display of solidarity may not run deep. The opposition has expressed concern that the crackdown on the military after the coup is going too far and is being done without parliamentary oversight.
According to Hurriyet Daily News, millions of Turkish flags have been seen in the area and repeated announcements have been made to ban individual party flags or party slogans.
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