Ten thousands of labourers from different cities of Turkey and Kurdistan went to Ankara to participate in the rally called "For a free, democratic and an equal Turkey" organised by the trade union
KESK ,
TMMOB and
TTB . At the march that started at Hipodrom and ended at Sihhiye Square the labourers said "Not chauvinism but the fraternity of the people shall win" to protest against the provoking attacks against the Kurdish people and demanded the cancellation of the cross-border occupation mission.
Besides the mass participation of the trade unions such as
Egitim-Sen and other trade unions affiliated to KESK as well as Dev Saglik-Is,
TUMTIS ,
Tez Koop-Is , Bandirma branch of
Petrol-Is , Tuzla branch of
Deri-Is ,
Limter-Is and
Tekstil-Sen , also TMMOB,
ESP ,
DTP ,
EMEP ,
ODP ,
Halkevleri , TKP, DHP and Partizan and many mass organisations participated and the following slogans were shouted frequently: "Budget not for war, but for education and h
ealth", "Biji bratiya gelan" (Kurdish: "Long lives the fraternity of the people") and "Turkish, Kurdish, we live together as brothers". The strike of the Telekom workers was saluted with the slogan "The Telekom workers are not alone".
At the rally KESK general secretary Abdurrahman Dasdemir spoke in the name of the organisation committee, other speakers were TTB general secretary Altan Ayaz, TMMOB chairman Mehmet Soganci and KESK general president Ismail Hakki Tombul. In the speeches hold the following was said: "We are against those provoking war and lynching. We are in favour of peace, justice and freedom."
