AIRLINK 73.18 Increased By ▲ 0.38 (0.52%)
BOP 5.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.06 (-1.19%)
CNERGY 4.37 Increased By ▲ 0.04 (0.92%)
DFML 29.95 Decreased By ▼ -0.57 (-1.87%)
DGKC 91.39 Increased By ▲ 5.44 (6.33%)
FCCL 23.15 Increased By ▲ 0.80 (3.58%)
FFBL 33.50 Increased By ▲ 0.28 (0.84%)
FFL 9.92 Increased By ▲ 0.14 (1.43%)
GGL 10.35 Decreased By ▼ -0.05 (-0.48%)
HBL 113.01 Decreased By ▼ -0.61 (-0.54%)
HUBC 136.28 Increased By ▲ 0.08 (0.06%)
HUMNL 9.60 Decreased By ▼ -0.43 (-4.29%)
KEL 4.78 Increased By ▲ 0.12 (2.58%)
KOSM 4.72 Increased By ▲ 0.32 (7.27%)
MLCF 39.89 Increased By ▲ 1.54 (4.02%)
OGDC 133.90 Increased By ▲ 0.50 (0.37%)
PAEL 28.85 Increased By ▲ 1.45 (5.29%)
PIAA 25.00 Increased By ▲ 0.24 (0.97%)
PIBTL 6.94 Increased By ▲ 0.39 (5.95%)
PPL 122.40 Increased By ▲ 1.19 (0.98%)
PRL 27.40 Increased By ▲ 0.25 (0.92%)
PTC 14.80 Increased By ▲ 0.91 (6.55%)
SEARL 60.40 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
SNGP 70.29 Increased By ▲ 1.76 (2.57%)
SSGC 10.42 Increased By ▲ 0.09 (0.87%)
TELE 8.85 Decreased By ▼ -0.20 (-2.21%)
TPLP 11.32 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (0.53%)
TRG 66.57 Increased By ▲ 0.87 (1.32%)
UNITY 25.20 Decreased By ▼ -0.05 (-0.2%)
WTL 1.55 Increased By ▲ 0.05 (3.33%)
BR100 7,674 Increased By 40.1 (0.53%)
BR30 25,457 Increased By 285.1 (1.13%)
KSE100 73,086 Increased By 427.5 (0.59%)
KSE30 23,427 Increased By 44.5 (0.19%)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday lambasted participants of the International Women's Day march in Istanbul over what he described as "disrespect" during the Islamic call to prayer. Police fired tear gas on Friday at thousands after authorities issued a statement banning any demonstration on the famous Istiklal avenue before the march, although the event has previously taken place peacefully.
In an unverified video that has since gone viral, women and men marching on Friday along the avenue continued chanting during the call to prayer. "A group which came together in Taksim led by the (main opposition Republican People's Party) CHP and (pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party) HDP supposedly for women's day behaved rudely with whistling and chanting during the call to prayer," Erdogan said.
The avenue is close to Taksim square, a traditional rallying point. Erdogan played a short clip of the video as well as footage of an opposition rally from 2011 where it was claimed the Turkish flag could not be seen.
"(The opposition is) attacking our liberty and our future with this disrespect to our flag and our call to prayer," he said during a rally in the southern city of Adana. The president has been holding daily rallies across the country and often slamming the opposition ahead of local elections on March 31. He has accused the CHP of being in an alliance with the HDP, which Erdogan says is a political front for Kurdish insurgents.
Although polls suggest Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) remains the biggest, there are fears the opposition may make larger gains as the economic slowdown and the weaker Turkish lira impacts households. Erdogan often says that his Islamic-rooted party has given greater freedom to Muslims in Turkey where until a few years ago, women were banned from wearing the Islamic headscarf, known as the hijab, in state institutions and universities.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2019

Comments

Comments are closed.