Crossing the fear threshold

Until today, the CHP has always stood for ‘opposition to the very end in parliament.’ The detaining of Enis Berberoğlu came as the last straw for the party, resulting in its leader Kılıçdaroğlu taking to the road proclaiming, ‘I will walk alone.’ He displayed his determination with his decision not even to return for an overnight stay on the first evening. At the end of the fourth day, all participants united in their resolve to stay put. Camps for justice were set up along the road. Party activities were also conducted along the road for justice. Three days were spent surmounting mountain roads in torrential rain, and stays were made in tents. The fear threshold was crossed along the way.

No return

Kılıçdaroğlu set out on the road at Güven Park with the words, ‘I will walk alone’ on 15 June accompanied by close to ten thousand citizens. The first day’s five and a half hour march, with brief breaks taken under willow trees, took them as far as the racecourse. People imagined that Kılıçdaroğlu would return home that evening and pick up in the morning from where he had left off. But, by spending the night in the caravan, he reinforced the message that there was to be no return. The first day’s long walk took its toll on frames unaccustomed to exercise and the initial day’s pain continued for the next few days. Drawing on the experience of the hard slog under the sun, arrangements were put in place on the second day for both breaks and accommodation as well as logistic support. Çankaya and Yenimahalle municipalities assisted over some eighty kilometres with tents, blankets, food and drink. Responsibility for logistics was then assumed in turn by Eskişehir Tepebaşı and Odunpazarı municipalities. In line with experts’ recommendations, the march was broken into five kilometre legs in the form of ‘three breaks per day and an overnight stay on the fourth break.’

Nobody gave up

For the first four days, the bulk of both the participants and journalists as well as MPs kept up with the march by shuttling back and forth from Ankara. After the fourth day, overnight stays began to be made in tents, vehicles and at the closest places to the overnight camp sites.

Hearts go out to Hasan Tatlı

On the fourth day of the justice march, 69-year-old Hasan Tatlı lost his life after suffering a heart attack. Kılıçdaroğlu held an open-air group meeting for the second time with a photograph of Tatlı, whom he called, ‘Our first loss on the road to justice,’ pinned over his heart. On the following day, the CHP convened the Central Executive Committee and carried out its entire ordinary programme under extraordinary conditions. The number of participants on the justice march grew despite the arduous conditions. The procession spent three days crossing mountain roads in torrential rain and stayed overnight in tents on peaks like Kargasekmez in weather reminiscent of the autumn frost. They kept warm on daytime breaks by dancing in circles and around the campfires that were lit at night. With participation reaching four thousand despite being midweek and the unfavourable weather conditions, the conviction grew ever stronger that the fear threshold had been crossed. The sixth day saw the reaching of the Ankara provincial boundary, and the first steps were taken inside Bolu province on the seventh day. For the march weary with blistered feet, worn-out soles, cramped legs and aching hernias, breaking out of Ankara was the crossing of a psychological boundary. It was as though they were setting out afresh on the march, a smidgen completed and the lion’s share still ahead of them.

No tiredness

At the end of the seventh day, we the CHP reporters conducted an interview with Kılıçdaroğlu in the caravan in which he was sojourning. The Kılıçdaroğlu to whom we spoke in his humble caravan, his complexion fair and his mien cheerful, appeared to be in rude health and betrayed not the slightest trace of tiredness; in fact, his wits were sharper than in our other interviews and he appeared to have the energy to talk for hours despite having walked some nineteen kilometres.
Edicts are yours and the roads are ours
Party members who set out from Bursa in support of the justice march have reached Yalova. The organisation in Yalova, with CHP MP Muharrem İnce numbering among them, has taken over the march. İnce said, ‘There are those who misunderstand us. Those individuals are the sort to have stunted consciences and swollen wallets. We say to them that if edicts are yours, the roads are ours.’

Nightly watch

The CHP organisation in Antalya is supporting the Justice March by holding a Justice Watch every night in Aydın Kanza Park. Muratpaşa Mayor Ümit Uysal is attending the watches every evening. CHP supporters come to the park in the evenings and keep the Justice Watch going to the accompaniment of singing. Up to around 200 CHP members are holding the watch from nine to eleven in the evening.

A million people in Istanbul

CHP MP Bülent Bektaşoğlu, addressing the party’s sundown meal programme in Giresun, referring to the intense support for the Justice March from all sections of society, commented, ‘They are shouting in chorus as if in unison. They will not succeed in subduing us. This hallowed march of ours will continue. This convoy will roll on despite them. Hopefully we will enter Istanbul as a million people.’

Cumhuriyet is on the story

The Justice March, the butt of comments, ‘They’ll give up and turn back,’ was on its tenth day yesterday. Our photojournalist Necati Savaş, our driver Veli Kara, who finds us in the procession whenever the need arises, and I are on the story.