Tens of Thousands Protested Against Israel's Offensive in Gaza

Tens of thousands of people gathered in street protests against Israeli army's offensive in Gaza this weekend.

Conservative and mainly Islamist Felicity Party (SP) organized a mass protest in Caglayan, Istanbul, where several thousand condemned Israel and called for support to Palestinian people.

Right-leaning Confederation of Right Workers' Union (HAK-IS) president Salim Uslu called for Turkish military to send troops to Gaza. SP president Numan Kurtulmuş demanded the government to withdraw the Turkish ambassador in Tel-Aviv.

On another account, members of the leftist magazine Mücadele Birliği (Union of Struggle) marched through Istiklal Street to one of the cities main squares in Taksim. Leftists workers' unions also organized protests. Retirees' Union member Hasan Kaşkır called for the closure of NATO bases in Turkey in order to ban them from used in offensives against neighboring countries. Kaşkır also demanded the government to end diplomatic relations with Israel.

In Diyarbakır, more than 50 thousand marched in protest and burned Israeli and US flags. 

Protests were also held in Bilecik, Eskişehir, Gaziantep, Adana, Trabzon, Ankara and Adapazarı as well as in front of Israel's consulates in Istanbul and Ankara.

Erdogan's reactions

"Unfortunately, Israel has caused a humanitarian drama by using excessive force" said the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, responding to a crowd's protest in an opening in Antalya.

"I believe that this act will stir unrest inside Israel. Justice will reign sooner or later. Tears of those children dying under bombs, cries of vulnerable mothers shall not remain unanswered."(EÜ)