More than 100,000 people – many waving Turkish flags – attended an “anti-terrorism” rally in Istanbul on Sunday, as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan conducted a major offensive against Kurdish rebels elsewhere in the country.
The huge crowd thronged Yenikapi Square on the shores of the Sea of Marmara for the demonstration, which was to culminate with an address by Erdoğan.
On Thursday, thousands took part in a similar rally in the capital, Ankara, to denounce the Kurdistan workers’ party (PKK), which has killed dozens of police and soldiers in a string of attacks in the mainly Kurdish south-east since the collapse of a two-year ceasefire in July.
Many of the demonstrators wore red headbands eulogising the slain security force members as “martyrs”. “Martyrs never die, the homeland cannot be divided,” the headbands read.
Erdoğan’s two-month-old offensive against the outlawed PKK – undertaken as the country prepares for a 1 November general election – has divided Turks.
His critics accuse him of using a suicide bombing in a south-eastern Turkish town that was blamed on Islamic State (Isis) jihadis as a pretext for reigniting a three-decade conflict with the PKK for electoral gain.
Erdoğan has grouped the PKK and Isis together as extremists but devoted much more firepower to airstrikes on the PKK’s bases along Turkey’s border with Iraq than to air raids against the Kurds’ jihadist foes.
No political emblems were visible among the sea of red Turkish flags in Istanbul but many of the demonstrators expressed fervent support for Erdoğan’s Islamic-rooted justice and development party (AKP).
“We will support Erdoğan to the end. We are behind him because he defends our flag and our nation,” said Gunel Yildiz, a 43-year-old textile industry worker who carried a giant Turkish flag.
The AKP is hoping to reverse the losses it sustained in the last election – in June – which stripped the AKP of its governing majority, forcing it into coalition talks that ended in failure. The big winner of that vote was the pro-Kurdish peoples’ democratic party (HDP) which took votes from the AKP to win seats in parliament for the first time.
“Believe me, the terrorists won’t return to parliament,” Alev Akmurat, a 22-year-old student said. “The AKP will regain power, God willing.”
The government has accused the HDP of being a front for the PKK, allegations rejected by the party, which also enjoys support among non-Kurds. While the timing of the offensive against the rebels has raised eyebrows in Turkey and abroad, the PKK’s bloody response has caused widespread anger.
More than 120 soldiers and police have been killed in rebel attacks since the escalation began, according to pro-government media. The government claims to have killed more than a thousand rebels in airstrikes and ground operations in northern Iraq and south-east Turkey.
More than 40,000 people have been killed during more than three decades of the PKK’s insurgency.
The huge crowd thronged Yenikapi Square on the shores of the Sea of Marmara for the demonstration, which was to culminate with an address by Erdoğan.
On Thursday, thousands took part in a similar rally in the capital, Ankara, to denounce the Kurdistan workers’ party (PKK), which has killed dozens of police and soldiers in a string of attacks in the mainly Kurdish south-east since the collapse of a two-year ceasefire in July.
Many of the demonstrators wore red headbands eulogising the slain security force members as “martyrs”. “Martyrs never die, the homeland cannot be divided,” the headbands read.
Erdoğan’s two-month-old offensive against the outlawed PKK – undertaken as the country prepares for a 1 November general election – has divided Turks.
His critics accuse him of using a suicide bombing in a south-eastern Turkish town that was blamed on Islamic State (Isis) jihadis as a pretext for reigniting a three-decade conflict with the PKK for electoral gain.
Erdoğan has grouped the PKK and Isis together as extremists but devoted much more firepower to airstrikes on the PKK’s bases along Turkey’s border with Iraq than to air raids against the Kurds’ jihadist foes.
No political emblems were visible among the sea of red Turkish flags in Istanbul but many of the demonstrators expressed fervent support for Erdoğan’s Islamic-rooted justice and development party (AKP).
“We will support Erdoğan to the end. We are behind him because he defends our flag and our nation,” said Gunel Yildiz, a 43-year-old textile industry worker who carried a giant Turkish flag.
The AKP is hoping to reverse the losses it sustained in the last election – in June – which stripped the AKP of its governing majority, forcing it into coalition talks that ended in failure. The big winner of that vote was the pro-Kurdish peoples’ democratic party (HDP) which took votes from the AKP to win seats in parliament for the first time.
“Believe me, the terrorists won’t return to parliament,” Alev Akmurat, a 22-year-old student said. “The AKP will regain power, God willing.”
The government has accused the HDP of being a front for the PKK, allegations rejected by the party, which also enjoys support among non-Kurds. While the timing of the offensive against the rebels has raised eyebrows in Turkey and abroad, the PKK’s bloody response has caused widespread anger.
More than 120 soldiers and police have been killed in rebel attacks since the escalation began, according to pro-government media. The government claims to have killed more than a thousand rebels in airstrikes and ground operations in northern Iraq and south-east Turkey.
More than 40,000 people have been killed during more than three decades of the PKK’s insurgency.
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