ISTANBUL (AP) – Turkey’s main opposition party set off on a 425-kilometer (265 mile) march Thursday from the capital to an Istanbul prison to protest the conviction of one of its lawmakers. Thousands began walking from Ankara, with police at the scene.
The leader of the pro-secular Republican People’s Party, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, called the “march for justice” after parliamentarian Enis Berberoglu was convicted and sentenced to 25 years for revealing state secrets.
Kilicdaroglu called the verdict “palace-motivated,” a reference to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “Let the whole world hear, we are facing a dictatorial regime in Turkey, in our own land,” he said.
The case of Berberoglu, a former journalist and lawmaker, stems from a 2015 story by the Cumhuriyet newspaper suggesting Turkey’s intelligence service had smuggled weapons to Islamist rebels in Syria. His lawyer has appealed the verdict.
Berberoglu was accused of giving journalists footage that showed local authorities searching Syria-bound trucks allegedly carrying mortar rounds and getting into a standoff with Turkish intelligence officials. Turkish leaders denied supporting Islamic rebels and said the trucks contained aid to Turkmens in Syria.