Turks take protests to Ataturk's mausoleum

Following a divisive referendum that will consolidate governmental power under the presidency, currently held by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s opposition has been protesting the vote, which they say was rigged. While kicking off the week-long National Sovereignty and Children’s Festival, Turks took their grievances to Ankara’s mausoleum for Turkey’s secular founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

The festival marks the 97th anniversary of the founding of Turkey’s parliament. Despite unseasonably cold weather, opposition leaders and voters used the opportunity to protest the referendum results, which will largely diminish the role of parliament in government and remove the separation of powers, giving Erdogan unparalleled authority to rule the nation with few checks and balances.

Inside the mausoleum, protesters paid their respects to Ataturk’s tomb, where many laid flowers and prayed. "We’ll continue our protest until Erdogan is gone," Duygu, an accountant (not pictured), told DW. "We will not accept his leadership. It took us 100 years to build this country through Ataturk’s ideas, and in the last five years, we have watched his work be dismantled."

Outside Anitkabir, crowds chanted, "We are Ataturk’s soldiers." In establishing the republic, Ataturk set the building blocks for a secular, European-oriented nation, but failed to foster an inclusive state for its majority pious, conservative citizens. Since winning power in 2003, Erdogan has managed to cater to neglected voting blocks and won every election since, laying bare Turkey's divisions.

"We don’t want to be Iran," said Mehmet, a student at Hacettepe University. "Erdogan is taking us backwards, all the way to the Ottoman Empire. But his understanding of our past is not correct. The Ottoman Empire had people with many religions and cultures. Erdogan is trying to make an empire with only one religion and one culture," he told DW.

Many have credited Erdogan’s success to the weak and often complacent Republican People’s Party (CHP), which was originally founded by Ataturk and represents Turkey’s main opposition block. "We absolutely need new leadership in CHP," Tugra, a high school student (not pictured), told DW. "We don’t know where they are taking us anymore. They are no longer Ataturk’s party."

"Everyone here is a 'No' voter," Mulazim, (not pictured) a supporter of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), said of the crowd. He agreed that opposition parties need restructuring after the referendum and suggested that Meral Aksener, a former MHP member who broke ranks with her party leadership, should lead a new nationalist movement that’s less submissive to President Erdogan.

Cansu, a student at Hacettepe University, said she did not see the referendum as a legitimate vote because of a last-minute decision by the Electoral Board to accept ballots without validation stamps. "There are 2.5 million stolen votes," Cansu said. "They cheated. We saw the evidence in videos online, but judges won’t do anything because they are afraid of Erdogan."

Turkish officials visited the Anitkabir for the Sovereignty festival, a tradition that Erdogan has foregone in recent years - in sharp contrast to former presidents. "I think the EU cannot help us now," Mehmet said. "We can only help ourselves, but Europeans should know that we did not want Erdogan as a leader, he took the position without democratic support."