Citizens pour into the streets again. Protests at the SEC continue.

Citizens came out onto the streets in numerous places in the country following the Supreme Election Council’s scandalous resolution and the tainted referendum. On the second day of the call to take to the streets, protests in İstanbul, Ankara, Adana, Çanakkale, Konya, İzmir and Aydın were well attended.

ISTANBUL

 
A large number of citizens congregating in Beşiktaş protested against the Supreme Election Council’s resolution deeming unstamped votes to be valid and the fraudulent acts alleged to have been committed in the referendum.
A group of women who congregated in Kadıköy protested with whistling, jeering and songs. The women shouted the slogan, ‘We will not remain silent.’
In the evening, thousands of citizens in Kadıköy staged a march to the Supreme Election Council building.
A group chanting the slogans, ‘There is no salvation on your own - either all together or none of us’, ‘No, we won. Istanbul is ours’ and ‘No everywhere – resistance everywhere’ wanted to march to Taksim. The police halted the demonstrators at the entrance to Sinanpaşa Köprüsü road and prevented them from reaching Taksim. The protest, which lasted for around two hours, ended following a police warning.
A large number of people congregated in Bakırköy’s Özgürlük Square and unfurled a banner reading: ‘No, we won.’
Citizens assembling in front of the Earthquake statue in Avcılar staged a march to protest at the referendum results.

Ankara

Hundreds of citizens congregating in Kızılay Sakarya protested against the Supreme Election Council. Citizens, chanting the slogan, ‘This is just the beginning. Continue the struggle,’ called for the referendum to be cancelled.

Izmir

Hundreds of citizens assembling in Izmir’s Cumhuriyet Square protested at the Supreme Election Council’s unstamped voting slips resolution.

Aydın

The Republican People’s Party Aydın Provincial Chair’s Office assembled members in Kent Square to express their outrage at the results of the 16 April Referendum and the resolution passed by the Supreme Election Council. The police blocked the group of party members who wished to march under the leadership of the CHP Provincial Chair Bayram İnci. With tension flaring up between the CHP Youth Wing Chair Yılmaz Tilki and the police, the police warned the group to break up. However, with the party members wishing to march despite this, the police set up a barricade and blocked them. Police officials said that permission would only be given for a press statement.
At this, CHP Aydın Provincial Youth Wing Chair Yılmaz Tilki, who read a statement on behalf of the group, said, ‘We have been through an electoral process that was not under equal and fair conditions. In this process, we waged a huge struggle for the youth of the country that brought us into the ‘No’ camp.  Let none of our friends’ necks bow down. Let their eyes not look at the ground. Let our stance, like our necks, stand high. We have stood up for the parliament that is part of this republic and, more than all else, what we have experienced and will experience. We believed in this country’s attainments from the very outset. We were not cheated, not deceived, did not give in and, most importantly, were not mistaken. Our struggle has not ended; it has just begun.’ The group broke up after the statement.

Adana

There was an attempt by the police to block group in Adana that was protesting against the fraudulent acts allegedly conducted in the referendum and the Supreme Election Council’s resolutions. Citizens surmounted the police barricade and continued their protest. Amid chants of ‘No, it hasn’t finished, it’s just starting,’ they assembled in Adana’s Atatürk Park. Slogans were shouted calling on the government to resign.

Çanakkale

Hundreds of citizens gathering in Çanakkale shouted the slogan, ‘Thief SEC, collaborator AKP’ and protested against the Supreme Election Council.

Konya

Citizens who gathered in Gedavet Park shouted the slogan, ‘No, we won,’ and protested at the referendum result.

Tekirdağ

A group of around one hundred composed of CHP and its youth wing members and students from some universities assembled in Üç Kemaller Park in response to a call made on social media. Those in the group chanted the slogans, ‘We are Mustafa Kemal's soldiers,’ ‘We will resist our way to victory’ and ‘It hasn’t finished, it’s just starting,’ A while later, with the group wishing to stage a march, the police denied the group permission and called on them to break up. With certain group members insisting on not dispelling, the rapid reaction police moved into action. With a number of party members persuading the group to break up the police refrained from intervening. Having made a short statement, the crowd broke up without incident.

Gaziantep: Ten arrests

A group composed mainly of CHP members in Gaziantep wished to protest at the Supreme Election Council deeming unstamped voting slips valid. The police intervened against the group, which did not break up despite a provincial governate banning order, and ten arrests were made.
A group composed mainly of CHP members assembled in front of Gaziantep University on Üniversite Avenue and wished to express their outrage at the Supreme Election Council’s resolution deeming unstamped votes to be valid in the referendum on the constitutional amendment. Even though the police called on them to obey the banning order that had been put into effect that day by the provincial governate covering actions to be staged outdoors, the crowd did not disperse. With the group not breaking up, the police intervened. With the crowd dispersing under the intervention, ten people were arrested by the police. 

Mersin

In Mersin, party and civil society organisation members responded to the CHP’s call to assemble and chanted slogans in protest at the Supreme Election Council’s resolution.
Some 300 people who gathered in Barış Square sang the Izmir March and shouted the slogans, ‘Shoulder to shoulder against fascism,’ ‘There is no salvation on your own - either all together or none of us’ and ‘Thief, collaborator SEC.’ Protestors, carrying banners reading ‘This fight is against fascism,’ ‘No, we won’ and ‘We will not surrender,’ objected to the referendum result. The protestors, who expressed their outrage with slogans and banners, later dispersed without incident.

Muğla

A group of about 800 that assembled in front of the Atatürk Memorial in response to a call made on social media by the CHP Marmaris Provincial Chair’s Office protested against the Supreme Election Council. The group, unfurling the banner, ‘No, we won,’ chanted the slogans, ‘The horse thief hasn’t managed to pass Üsküdar,’ ‘Legal Theft Council,’ ‘We won’t stand for the illegitimate constitution’ and ‘No to the SEC’s coup.’ The action was supported by, along with the CHP, the Patriotic Party, Democrat Party, Association for the Support of Contemporary Living, Pir Sultan Abdal Culture Association, Association of Students' Parents, Coastal Protection and Monitoring Association, Marmaris People’s Movement, Atatürkist Thought Association, Turkish Retired Officers Association, Education and Science Workers' Union, One Person Association, It’s Our Shift Platform, Marmaris Municipality City Assembly Women’s Group, Turkish Retired and Invalid Non-Commissioned Officers Association, Association of the Women of the Republic and Marmaris Association for the Protection of Animal Rights.