Prior to the “No to genocide, massacre, and forced displacement in Gaza” march organised by CHP İstanbul Provincial Branch from Tünel to Taksim in the evening, the İstanbul Governorship ordered extraordinary security measures. Taksim and Şişhane metro stations were shut down, and İstiklal Avenue was evacuated by police announcements after 5:00 pm. Entry and exit points to the area were closed off.
CHP members were blocked by police barricades during their attempt to march. When the crowd tried to push through the barricades, the police intervention intensified. During these moments, citizens took shelter in a nearby café. CHP İstanbul Provincial Chair Özgür Çelik denounced the forced displacement of Palestinians and criticised those who remained silent.
Due to exhaustion from the day’s efforts, Çelik made his speech in a faint voice, stating: “The Palestinian people have long been subjected to Israel’s state terror. They are being displaced and stripped of their lands. Since 7 October, this oppression has intensified to a frenzied level. For a year and a half, the world has witnessed a genocide in Gaza.
‘THE PERPETRATOR IS ISRAEL; THOSE BACKING IT ARE THE IMPERIALISTS’
This is a massacre in which even babies in cradles have been killed. A massacre against humanity, in which crimes against humanity are being committed. The perpetrator is Israel, and those encouraging it are imperialist powers.
Their aim is to drown the Middle East in blood, hand it over to autocrats, and plunder its resources. We know them well. We know them from the day our brave Deniz warriors drove the invading pirates into the sea when the Sixth Fleet docked on our soil.
‘WE ARE THE HEIRS OF DENİZ GEZMİŞ’
We stood against them yesterday, and we stand against them today. We defended Palestine yesterday, and we defend it today. We are the friends of Yasser Arafat, embraced by Bülent Ecevit while under global pressure. We are the heirs of Deniz Gezmiş, who fought against Israeli Zionism.
The murderous State of Israel has burned and destroyed Gaza. It has massacred 50,000 people. But that wasn’t enough for them. Now they plan to forcibly displace the remaining population, shamelessly trying to normalise it as ‘migration’. They want to sever Palestinians from their homeland. Our principle is clear: Everyone is happy in their own homeland.
They devastated Iraq, its people were forced to flee. They occupied Afghanistan, its people fled. They turned Syria into a bloodbath, its people fled. Iraqis are not happy, Syrians are not happy, Afghans are not happy. Turks are not happy with these migrations. Nor are Europeans, nor Americans.
‘WHO WILL BENEFIT FROM A NEW WAVE OF DISPLACEMENT?’
So who will be happy if Palestinians are expelled from their land? How will the world handle a deeper migration crisis? Who will benefit from a new wave of displacement? We must put an end to this. Blood, war, and displacement cannot be the eternal fate of this region.
The destiny of this region cannot be shaped by autocrats like Trump and Netanyahu. Nor by hypocritical leaders who support Gaza in words while collaborating with these very forces. We reject this mentality of domination. It is the same mentality that praises the bombing of innocent civilians in Yemen on social media, that pulls out Netanyahu’s chair for show while admiring the beauty of Gaza’s shores like Trump.
It’s clear the imperialists have tasked their collaborators in Turkey with turning the country into a migrant depot. Those calling forced displacement ‘migration’ are partners in the imperialist plan. Describing Palestinians’ forced removal as ‘migration’ is to become complicit in Israel and the US’s plan to empty Gaza.
Shame on those who try to normalise forced displacement with the term ‘migration’, who exploit the Prophet’s hijrah from Mecca to Medina to justify Israel and the US’s plans, who aim to turn Gaza into a city of casinos, who take part in the sinister plot to seize those lands’ resources! Turkey is not a pawn to be used in the imperialists’ secret plans!
Stop being the pawn of imperialist powers just to cling to your exhausted rule! We call on the government: Last week, there was a banner at the Gaza march from Saraçhane to Beyazıt. It read, ‘The killer of Gaza is a hypocritical policy.’ That is the truth. If you want to stand with Gaza, start by ending your hypocritical policies. Stop feasting with the wolves and weeping with the shepherds.
Before the election, you wouldn’t stop talking about Gaza. You tried to reap political gain from Gaza while sending ships to Israel via third countries. Today you continue trade but won’t utter a word about Gaza.
‘STOP BEING HYPOCRITES’
Where are those who hold Palestine protests every New Year’s Day to stir societal polarisation? Why are you silent about the forced displacement of Gaza? Rümeysa Öztürk was detained and mistreated in the US for supporting Gaza, and she has health issues. Why are you silent? While Trump praises you with one hand, he also brags about how he ‘got the pastor back’. Don’t you have anything to say to a man who mistreats a Turkish citizen for openly condemning the oppression in Palestine? You abandoned Ayşenur Ezgi’s case too. You’re doing all of this for Trump.
You cannot defend the rights of Gazans while walking side by side with Trump. That’s why we say: Gaza’s killer is hypocritical policy.
We are calling on the Foreign Secretary: Stop meddling in domestic politics, stop loitering in cafés. Stand up for Rümeysa! Don’t let the honour of our nation be trampled on! Rescue our student from an American prison!
We address the whole world: This is a test of humanity for all of us. The world will never be truly free until the people and lands of Palestine are fully free. The solution is not to impose a fate on Palestinians but to create the conditions for them to determine their own. We demand open border crossings for humanitarian aid, and not hypocritical policies, but a genuine and uncompromising stance against the massacres committed by the Israeli state.
WE SAY NO TO FORCED DISPLACEMENT
This stance is the legacy of our national resistance. Our path is the path of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s fully independent Turkey. We have never bowed before Trump, who bathed Gaza in blood. We have never danced with joy at receiving praise from the murderous Trump. We have never engaged in covert trade with Israel. We have never exploited dying Palestinians for domestic politics. We have never used Gaza’s genocide as election material.
From the very beginning, we have defended the Palestinian cause on principled grounds. Because our cause is the cause of humanity. Our cause is the cause of freedom. Our cause is the cause of peace and brotherhood in the Middle East!
We say no to genocide! We say no to massacre! We say no to forced displacement!”
After the protest, young people gathered and cleaned up litter on the street.
Source: Tünel’de polis barikatı: CHP’nin Taksim’deki Filistin yürüyüşüne izin verilmiyor