The Republic Protests (Turkish: Cumhuriyet Mitingleri) were a series of peaceful mass rallies that took place in Turkey in 2007 in support of a strict principle of state secularism.
The first rally took place in Ankara on 14 April 2007, just two days before the start of the presidential election process. The second one took place in Istanbul on 29 April. The third and fourth rallies took place consecutively in Manisa and Çanakkale on 5 May. The fifth rally took place in İzmir on 13 May.
The number of people gathering for the first protest in front of Anıtkabir, the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in Ankara, was cited as ranging from "hundreds of thousands" to 1.5 million people. In the second protest, more than one million people gathered for the protests in Çağlayan square, Istanbul according to AFP and Reuters. The BBC reported hundreds of thousands of people. Over one million people reportedly participated in the fifth rally.
Read more about Republic Protests: Antecedent, First Rally (Tandoğan Rally, Ankara), Aftermath of The First Rally, Second Rally (Çağlayan Rally, İstanbul), Aftermath of The Second Rally, Third Rally (Sultan Rally, Manisa) and Fourth Rally (Cumhuriyet Rally, Çanakkale), Aftermath of The Third and Fourth Rallies, Fifth Rally (Gündoğdu Rally, İzmir), Slogans From The Rallies
Famous quotes containing the word republic:
“Royalty is a government in which the attention of the nation is concentrated on one person doing interesting actions. A Republic is a government in which that attention is divided between many, who are all doing uninteresting actions. Accordingly, so long as the human heart is strong and the human reason weak, Royalty will be strong because it appeals to diffused feeling, and Republics weak because they appeal to the understanding.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)