Thousands of People Gathered for Peace, but...

The 1 September Peace Rally in Kadıköy on the Asian side of Istanbul had to be cancelled after police interventionS with tear gas which was followed by tensions and demonstrators throwing stones and Molotov cocktails to the police.

Thousands of people attended the meeting that was organized by the Istanbul Democratic City Council, among them Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) deputies Sebahat Tuncel, Filiz Koçali and Altan Tan; Labour, Democracy and Freedom Block deputy Levent Tüzel, singer Ferhat Tunç and members of non-governmental organizations, political parties and labour unions.

The crowd met at noon on Thursday (1 September) to walk to the Kadıköy pier. They chanted slogans like "Long live the people's brotherhood", "No to war - peace now", "Don't join the army, don't shed your brother's blood" or "The PKK is the people, the people are here".

Most of the posters featured the seven civilians who were killed in the air raids of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) at Qandil Mountain in August.

First tensions arouse when the crowd encountered riot force teams and armoured vehicles upon their arrival in Kadıköy.

Afte politicians Sebahat Tuncel and Levent Tüzel talked to the police, the march could be continued upon the condition of "taking down illegal posters", i.e. posters that featured pictures of Abdullah Öcalan, imprisoned leader of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The police carried out extensive searches at the entrance to the meeting area on the Kadıköy Pier Square. When a group of demonstrators objected the search, the police intervened with tear gas.

Lengthy tensions developed between the participants of the peace march and the police. A group of demonstrators threw stones towards the police.

The crowd was eventually allowed into the meeting area upon the efforts of the organization committee of the Peace Meeting. They held a minute of silence for all the people who died in the war within the past 30 years. Dursun Yıldız said on behalf of the Democratic City Council that peace was very near. He dedicated his speech to Yıldırım Ayhan who was killed in Van (south-eastern Turkey) as the result of a gas bomb thrown by the police in the course of a demonstration on Peace Day on 1 September.

In the meantime, new tensions occurred between the police and a group of demonstrators. The police used tear gas and the demonstrators replied with Molotov cocktails and stones. The front windows of some shops got broken.

When Tuncel entered the podium to make her speech, she asked the police to stop the tear gas but the tensions went on. Tuncel was not able to finish her speech.

At around 3.00 pm the organization committee protested the police for their interference against the 1 September Peace Rally and preventing the meeting from happening. The meeting was stopped. 63 people were taken into custody.

Participants of the meeting

The Peace Rally was attended by members of the following organizations: BDP, Peace Mothers, Women Initiative for Peace, Socialist Platform for the Oppressed (ESP), Human Rights Association (İHD), Confederation of Trade Unions of Public Employees (KESK) Platform of Istanbul Branches, Freedom and Solidarity Party (ÖDP), Labour Party (EMEP), Socialist Democracy Party (SDP), Socialist Solidarity Platform (SODAP), Revolutionary Socialist Workers Party (DSİP), Revolutionary Workers Committees, Independent Revolutionary Class Platform (BDSP), Platform for Conscientious Objectors. (NV/VK)

Click here to see photographs of the meeting.