On September 4, thousands gathered in Kartal square in Istanbul saying ‘Do Not Yield to Religious Fundamentalism, Imperialism and Coups’. The meeting was held by a call from number of prominent intellectuals trade union leaders and politicians as a claim to the so called 'national consensus' meeting which was led by the AKP government against the coup attempt on July 15. The initiators, in their September 4th manifesto had drawn up a list of demands which included the prosecution of all religious sects and cults besides the Gulen Movement known as the master mind behind the coup attempt. The manifesto also renounced NATO and EU as the imperialist actors dragging Turkey to disaster and condemned the AKP government as the main ally of all these actors. Communist Party, Turkey, instigated this initiative favoring the political manifesto.
The call for the meeting, released in mid August, received massive response from the people of different political origins as AKP started to use its power to purge the opposition while the social democrat main opposition party joined the national consensus appeal. Many journalists, artists, representatives of social organizations, including the leaders of the trade unions in the metal and housing sector and the trade union of judges joined the September 4 call which reached hundreds in the following days. Communist Party, Turkey, organized numerous local meetings throughout Turkey to mobilise people for the Kartal meeting. Eventually last Sunday in Kartal square the demonstration took place despite the state of emergency declared by the government. Among the crowd carrying the banderoles 'Do not yield', there were leftist soccer fan groups' posters and banners from worker resistance.
Kemal Okuyan, the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, Turkey, appeared with a Che Guevara t-shirt, referring to the words of the President of the Turkish Parliament who had criticised the youth carrying Che Guevara badges for neglecting the ‘national heroes’ and had called Guevara a 'bandit'. Okuyan listed the names of the revolutionary heroes of the people in Turkish history besides the international hero Guevara, reminding the honorable legacy of the peoples' struggle. In his speech, Okuyan said 'We are against the coup attempt but we are also against AKP's opportunism pertaining to this coup attempt. Are we obliged to choose between Erdoğan and Fethullah Gülen?' Against the so called 'national consensus' made in Yenikapı meeting weeks ago, he called for the 'Kartal consensus' rejecting the power of pro-imperialists, religious fundamentalists and enemies of workers. Okuyan proceeded by stressing "there can be no struggle against fundamentalism and US imperialism unless there is struggle againts the capitalist class which retains hegemony in each period and against this system".
The meeting was invigorated with the poems of the prominent poet Nihat Behram who participated in the meeting. Actor Levent Üzümcü and journalist Enver Aysever also addressed the crowd. While Üzümcü underlined that no one will liberate the people but themselves, Aysever reminded the progressive potential of the people that had showed up during the Gezi Park uprising in June 2013. The meeting was also attended by the parents of Berkin Elvan, a 15 year old boy, who had been killed by the police during the uprising after which hundreds of thousands had taken to the streets. Writer Serpil Güvenç also made a speech telling the need for class struggle to overcome the imperialists and reactionaries and called for the political power of the workers. After the concert given by the rock musicians Nejat Yavaşoğlulları and Akın Eldes, the meeting ended with a march, the crowd chanting the slogan 'Do not yield!'.
Kartal became the first arena where masses met after the brutal coup attempt that had been followed by pro-AKP street demonstrations. Its timing was also important as it took place just after AKP government started a military operation in Syria and declared a statutory decree dismissing tens of thousands of public officials with the excuse of the coup attempt. The meeting represented the opening up of the working class front against the so called ‘national consensus’ policy backed by imperialist and fundamentalist forces.
See the link for photo gallery