NEWS
Date published: 24 March 2003 00:00
Modified On: 31 October 2013 00:17

Civilian Inspections at S. Gokcen Airport

Peace activists held a protest in Sabiha Gokcen Airport rented by the US as an airbase in the war on Iraq. The motion was rejected but the occupation goes on, shouted the protestors. The checks will go on every week, they said.
Özge Gözke

Özge Gözke
On March 15th (Saturday), some  2000 people gathered at the airport to protest against the US military presence in Turkey, and against a war on Iraq.   

No to War on Iraq Coordination has declared that there would be an "inspection action" every week in Sabiha Gokcen Airport on the outskirts of Istanbul, an airport which is rented by the US as a military airbase. 

The cars and buses that carried the activists were stopped at a mile's distance from the airport. The protestors walked to the airport with banners, shouting various slogans such as " We won't be US soldiers ", "No to imperialist war", " If the motion passes, Tayyip shall go to fight", "End the Occupation, US army go home", "Let's shut down İncirlik, let's make it a football field ". 

After the march Hasan Toprak , a member of the Union of Education, Science and Culture Workers (Egitim-Sen), read out a press statement as the spokesperson for the coordination.

Toprak said "In spite of our Parliament's refusal of the March 1st resolution, our country is turned into a military base for war. The occupation of our lands from Iskenderun Port to factories in Mardin, is unacceptable . We want the imperialist US' bases to be shut down. We cannot accept Sabiha Gokcen Airport to be accesible to US when we, the people, do not have the right to use it."

Anti-war Activists will be Inspecting the Airport

When the group was prevented from entering the airport,  Abdurrahman Dilipak (journalist), Kezban Hatemi (lawyer), Ozlem Ozyurt (Vice President of Association for Free Thought and Education Rights- Ozgur-Der), Hasan Toprak, and Ceylan Ozerengin (journalist and representative of Public Workers Confederation) entered the airport as a delegation of the coordination participants, and held a meeting with the authorities.

After the meeting Dilipak said "We have been told that there is no written agreement that secures the US use of the airport in the event of a military operation. As anti-war activists, we will be inspecting the airport to confirm the credibility of this information".

Sabiha Gökçen Airport was rented to the US as a preparatory base for an attack on Iraq, for 6 months for 20 million dollars.(ÖG/BB)

https://bianet.org/haber/civilian-inspections-at-s-gokcen-airport-17398
2024-04-28 09:18:42