AP: Turks Turn Off Lights in Protest

[ozgurluk at xs4all.nl]

Subject: AP: Turks Turn Off Lights in Protest
From: Press Agency Ozgurluk <ozgurluk at xs4all.nl>

Turks Turn Off Lights in Protest

By YALMAN ONARAN
Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, February 19, 1997 2:16 am EST

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- Just before 9 p.m., hundreds of candles
flicker in Ankara's main square. Hundreds of voices count
down: ``Two! One! Zero!'' At once, all the candles are blown
out.

The ritual -- going from light to darkness -- is carried out
at the same time each night by millions of people across
Turkey in a grass-roots protest against government corruption
and evangelism.

The symbolism is obvious. Participants believe these are dark
days for their nation.

With corruption scandals plowing higher through official ranks
and an Islamic-led government casting a stern eye at Turkey's
Western traditions, the lights-out demonstrations have become
a potent way to display public dismay.

``The individual has spoken up for the first time in Turkey,''
said Ergin Cinmen, a spokesman for a group that helped launch
the protests.

Since Feb. 1, from villages to cities, people have turned the
lights out for one minute every night.

Apartments, stores and homes go black. Many residents leave
their homes for candlelight rallies. Motorists honk horns in
support of the campaign, dubbed ``One-minute of darkness for
eternal light.''

The movement started with only lights being turned off, but
grew into nightly street rallies, with singing and dancing. In
the capital, Ankara, and other cities, protesters go out on
their balconies to bang pots and pans.

The focus of the protest campaign has also widened.

It was launched by a loosely knit group called The Civic
Initiative for Enlightenment, which formed after allegations
surfaced of ties between government leaders and underworld
figures.

Later, the protests began to register opposition to the
government of Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan, who supports
strengthening ties with other Muslim nations and encouraging
Islamic traditions. He has made a series of friendly overtures
to Iran and has proposed lifting a ban on female civil
servants covering their heads with scarves.

Government officials criticize the protests. The justice
minister ridicules the ritual as an ``immature act.''

But demonstrators are adamant. Often during the one-minute
vigils, voices cry out in the darkness: ``Turkey will remain
secular!''

``We're here for a bright future for our children,'' shouted
Pembe Akpinar, a 40-year-old homemaker, during Monday night's
protest. ``We're here to tell the gangs within the state and
the religious fanatics that we're here to protect our country
from them.''

© Copyright 1997 The Associated Press
--
Classwar in Turkey and Kurdistan: http://www.xs4all.nl/~ozgurluk
Turkey Contra-Guerrilla-State: http://www.xs4all.nl/~ozgurluk/contrind/
KURTULUS HAFTALIK SIYASI GAZETE: http://www.kurtulus.com