Republic Protests - Aftermath of The First Rally

Aftermath of The First Rally

On 16 April in an interview en route to Germany on board the prime minister's jet, Erdoğan said that the demonstration would not affect his decisions (at the time he had not yet decided whether to run). Bülent Arınç, Speaker of the Turkish Parliament, commented that "they will elect a civilian, democratic and religious president". He also said that "not the regime but the power of the backers of status quo was in danger". In response to the protests Eyüp Fatsa, AKP group chief representative, stated that "if they decided to hold such a demonstration they could gather ten times as many people" and that the parliament does not decide based on crowd gatherings. A Reuters article that appeared in the French newspaper Le Monde stated that if Erdoğan became president, Turkey would face its greatest political crisis since the creation of the Turkish Republic in 1923, noting the intricate connections between the secular elites and the army, and that the Chief of the Turkish Armed Forces had warned people of the danger threatening Turkish secularism. The article also reported that the Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi (Republican People's Party), the main opposition party, have declared their intention to leave the parliament and ask the Constitutional Court to cancel Erdoğan's running in the elections.

On 18 April Arzuhan Doğan Yalçındağ, the president of the Association of Turkish Businessman and Industrialists (TÜSİAD), stated that she felt Erdoğan would not stand as a candidate in the presidential election.

On 24 April after these weeks of debate over who would run for the presidency, foreign minister Abdullah Gül was put forward as the only candidate. Jonathan Rugman, a British reporter in Turkey for the Guardian, had published an article on 27 November 1995 following an interview with Abdullah Gül, who was then a member of the Welfare Party and made remarks such as "the Republican Era is over" Turkish: Cumhuriyet döneminin sonu gelmiştir. Immediately following the announcement, a group of 14 people was arrested for gathering to protest his candidacy in front of the Çankaya Palace (the presidential complex). After the arrest, smaller groups also gathered, chanting "if carrying the Turkish flag is a crime, take us too" (Turkish: Türk Bayrağı'nı taşımak suçsa bizi de alın). Drivers passing by reportedly showed support by waving flags from their cars. A similar protest took place in Kuğulu park. When asked about this at a reception, General Ergin Saygun responded by quoting the 12 April speech of Yaşar Büyükanıt. When further inquired what he thought about the new commander-in-chief's wife having an Islamic headscarf, Saygun replied by saying that the answer to the question was inside it.

On 25 April when inquired about his wife's Islamic headscarf, Gül responded by saying his wife's decision should be respected and treated as a personal right. The same day there was an assassination attempt on the YÖK president Dr. Erdoğan Teziç who is known for his secularist remarks. Three rounds were fired by a 30-year-old man identified as Nurullah İlgün. İlgün was arrested the same day.

On 27 April, with only 353 parliamentarians present, the AKP failed to achieve a quorum of 367, and Gül's candidacy failed at the first round despite a majority of those present voting in favour. Due to the lack of necessary participation and several alleged violations of the constitution, the vote was taken to the constitutional court to be discussed over the weekend. Later the same day the Turkish Armed Forces released a statement warning that they are a party to this debate and the absolute defender of secularism, and that when necessary they would display their attitudes and actions very clearly. This led to an increase in tensions between the AKP and the Turkish Armed Forces.