Asia

Home page

Asia

Erdogan criticized for banning opposition rally on Republic Day

30 October 2012 21:54 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The leader of Turkeyâ€™s main opposition party Kemal Kilicdaroglu has criticized Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for banning an opposition rally to mark the Republic Day, APA reports quoting Press TV.

Kilicdaroglu on Tuesday accused Erdogan of suppressing the opposition by banning the demonstration, which was organized by his party, and calling it illegal.

"He calls [the ones who organized and attended the rallies] illegal organizations. Look at that mentality. An 80 year-old woman, kids at the age of 8 or 9, young people, women, and disabled people - they had nothing but flags in their hands. They were celebrating their most joyous national holiday. And [Erdogan] calls them illegal organizations," he said.

On Monday, tens of thousands of people assembled in the old part of Ankara, near the building housing Turkey’s first parliament, and then marched to the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, despite a government ban.

Police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse the crowd and many people, including Kilicdaroglu were affected by the gas. The Ankara governor’s office last week denied authorization for the march, citing security reasons, and declared the gathering illegal.

Erdogan hit back at Kilicdaroglu, saying the rally was provocative.

"There is no such thing that we didn’t allow the rally. Kilicdaroglu celebrated last Republic Days beside me, in the official celebrations. Why isn’t this happening now? Why did he try to celebrate it in his own way this time while it was being celebrated in 8 different locations in Ankara? This is not an alternative celebration, this is a provocation," he said.