Turks in Russia support Istanbul protests against cutting down park

A rally took place in Istanbul on Saturday against the government’s plans to cut down a park called Gezi near the Taksim Square. In fact, this is the only park in Istanbul’s center.
Turkish citizens who live in Russia also rallied on this day in Moscow to express their support to the protestors in Istanbul. The rally started at 6 p.m. Moscow time in a park near the Novodevichy convent.
The rally’s organizers had announced about their action on the Web beforehand. For this purpose, they have even created a special website.
The rally brought together about 100 peoples from all walks of life – students, businesspeople, financiers, engineers and construction workers. Some of them took their wives and children to the rally.
Some participants of the rally had come to Moscow to commemorate Nazım Hikmet, a Turkish poet who is buried at a cemetery near the Novodevichy convent. (On July 3, it will be 50 years since Hikmet’s death.)
Even fans of two Turkish football teams, “Besiktas” and “Galatasaray”, who are usually irreconcilable rivals, stood shoulder-to-shoulder at this rally.
The participants sang songs glorifying Mustafa Kemal, Turkey’s president in the 1920s and the 1930s, who made Turkey a Western-style secular state. They photographed themselves with the Novodevichy convent at the background and immediately published the photos in Twitter.
Quite a few passers-by came up to the protesters, asking what was going on. When they learned that these people were protesting against cutting down a park in Istanbul, they expressed solidarity with them, because Moscow’s residents, like Istanbul’s ones, realize very well how badly gigantic megalopolises need parks and fresh air.
About one hour after the rally started, police appeared and asked the protestors to disperse. The majority obeyed this order, but a small group of people went to the Red Square to continue the rally there.
The rally’s organizers say that on Monday, they will come to the Novodevichy Park again.
Read more: http://english.ruvr.ru/news/2013_06_01/photo-Turks-in-Russia-support-Istanbul-protests-against-cutting-down-park-2728/