Sarcasm turns into rage for the justice march

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, with almost unprecedented political agility, has somehow finally transformed himself into an opposition leader who actually sets the agenda. 

Such was the situation in Turkey, he definitely had to take a step decisive step. He therefore started his “justice march” from Ankara to Istanbul, in which he would be take a total of 600,000 steps, according to the calculations of Hürriyet columnist Deniz Zeyrek.

He started the march saying he was not walking for his party but he was walking for “justice.” Different segments then started to join with increasing interest.

We can all see in the news coverage every day how a new team is joining the march: From anti-capitalist Muslims to the victims of the Balyoz (Sledgehammer) case, from women’s associations to anti-nuclear groups and football fans.

The human convoy is getting larger and longer as the days pass by. It is now approaching Istanbul. In the hottest days of the year, others are joining the march every day.

Those who are walking and those who are joining despite the asphalt-melting heat have many common points. It is not only the imprisonment of Enis Berberoğlu, the CHP deputy and former editor-in-chief of daily Hürriyet, that they are protesting against. There are many other shared concerns and problems.

Kılıçdaroğlu hit the road with a placard in his hand, on which only one word, “justice,” was written.

Normally, the CHP tradition would call for holding meetings lasting hours discussing what to name the action. 

They did not name it according to various long-winded CHP classics. They simply said “justice,” and the march has certainly hit a sore spot in the government, as far as we can see. 

Those masses that did not benefit from the justice system see where a dark pattern had been allowed to settle. The old justice system had not been good for anyone, but the new one does not promise any hope either. As the number of marchers has increased and as interest has grown, reactions have also grown.

With each step of the march, the number of heads turning has increased. In line with this, the tone of the reactions has sharpened.

Ironic responses have been replaced by indiscreet threatening sentences. The stance of “let them walk, so what?” has been replaced by irrelevant metaphors and the vain search for faults. 

In their encounters with the justice system, there are few people have not been left disappointed in one way or another. 

We read about how abusive perverts who shoot children with air rifles are set free… 

We read about how those who were imprisoned because they investigated the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ) are now being arrested on the grounds that they cooperated with FETÖ…

We read about how those who know how to pull the strings are allowed to walk free, while a new conscript is waiting for their indictment in jail… 

Those who have faced physical and spiritual damage, who have been fined disproportionally in traffic, who have been slandered by a “citizen informant,” now stop and think whenever “justice” is mentioned.

Viewing this march and the various layers it has activated in society as “people trying to harm the government” or “tools of terrorist organizations” means not being able to read a deeply rooted problem. 

It is wrong to belittle or insult the march of those who flinch when they hear the word “justice,” those who are truly seeking justice, those who have been victimized, those who were not able to properly seek their rights, those who were able to find justice.
But again, it is up to you…