They have called themselves the "Democratic Republican People's Party (CHP) Movement" and have adopted the slogan, "999, The ninth (day) of the ninth (month) at nine o'clock". The opposition to party chairperson Deniz Baykal is being led by Mustafa Sarigül, CHP mayor of the Sisli municipality in central Istanbul.
"Time for Baykal to go"
When the protesters met on Sunday in front of the CHP headquarters in Ankara, they shouted slogans against Baykal and the party leadership and called for Baykal's resignation.
With Turkish and CHP flags in their hands, and "Time for Baykal to go" T-shirts and hats, many of the protesters shouted for "Prime Minister Sarigül".
Sarigül has claimed that the party will be in power after the next general elections. He has said that he wants important names such as Erdal Inönü, the son of the second President and himself a respected politician, Altan Öymen, a journalist and briefly the CHP chairperson, and Hikmet Cetin, also a former CHP chairperson, to return into the fold of the party: "We will take our party back."
Sarigül said, "Blair and Schröder resign, but the gentleman does not. Because he is not protecting the laicist and democratic Turkish Republic, but his own chair."
He added, "We will rescue the CHP from the status quo, we will embrace civil society organisations. We will rejuvenate the party. We will rebuild the party-internal democracy which had been destroyed. MPs will be decided on not by Baykal but by the people themselves."
Baykal in Ankara
Meanwhile, other party members visited Atatürk's mausoleum in Ankara (Anitkabir) to celebrate the 84th anniversary of the CHP's foundation. Coming from different cities around Turkey, the CHP members met at the Tandogan square, which had been the site of one of the "Republican rallies" and entered the mausoleum as a group. They too held Turkish and CHP flags.
Baykal and party leaders were greeted with applause. Baykal walked along the "Road with Lions" to the ceremonial area. Spectators filled the square and called out, "Turkey is laicist and will remain laicist". Near the entrance of the mausoleum there were banners reading, "We cannot have an Antalya without Deniz (or literally, the sea), a Turkey without Baykal, or a Manisa without Yetenc (the CHP MP who resigned from the party and then returned)."
Because of the crowd, it was difficult for Baykal and his delegation to reach the mausoleum.At the entrance, CHP flags and other banners were left behind and only Turkish flags entered the building.
Protest in Beyoglu
On Saturday, 8 September, around 200 people gathered at the Galatasaray Square in Beyoglu, central Istanbul, to call for Baykal's resignation. Shouting slogans and opening umbrellas with the inscription "Time for Baykal to go", they had also prepared a statement, which was read by Ozan Ceyhun, a former Member of the European Parliament. Ceyhun pointed out that the CHP was about to be dismissed from the Europe International Group and said, "We cannot accept that." The group then walked along Istiklal Street to Taksim Square. (NZ/AG)
