05 July 2017•Update: 05 July 2017
By Seval Guler
ANKARA
The Ankara to Istanbul march launched three weeks ago by the main opposition leader should be protected against “provocative attempts”, one of his party’s lawmakers said Wednesday.
In a motion submitted to the Grand National Assembly, Sezgin Tanrikulu, a deputy for the Republican People’s Party (CHP), said the parliament should ensure security measures are taken, particularly as the march approaches Istanbul.
“Measures against provocative attempts and protests that could prevent the positive effect of the ‘justice’ march should be taken,” he said in the motion.
He added: “We request security measures be immediately taken for the security of the peaceful march by launching an investigation in the parliament.”
CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu began the march on June 15 following the jailing of party lawmaker Enis Berberoglu for 25 years for leaking information on the transportation of arms to Syria.
It is due to finish Sunday with a demonstration outside Istanbul’s Maltepe Prison, where Berberoglu is being held.
Thousands of people have joined Kilicdaroglu on the 450-kilometer (280-mile) walk.
Last week, Kilicdaroglu called on supporters to remain calm in the face of potential provocation, including not reacting to counter-protests other than to applaud them.
Senior figures in the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party have criticized the protest, including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said it was a march “for terrorists and for their supporters”.
He added: “This situation, which anyone who in their right mind can see clearly, is part of traps set up in Syria, Iraq, the Gulf and Europe against our country.”
Berberoglu was convicted of revealing state secrets by passing images of National Intelligence Organization trucks en route to Syria in January 2014 to the Cumhuriyet newspaper.
He was the first CHP deputy to be imprisoned in recent years. Around a dozen lawmakers from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) are currently jailed, most awaiting trial over alleged links to the PKK terror group.
In May last year, parliament voted to strip lawmakers facing trial of their parliamentary immunity.
