Minister booed at ceremony

İZMİR -Doğan News Agency

The liberation of İzmir is memorialized with the flying of the Turkish flag. DHA

Liberation Day ceremonies in the Aegean city of İzmir on Sept. 9, marking the final victory in the Liberation War, were marked by fights and the crowd’s jeering of Culture and Tourism Minister Ertuğrul Günay. The crowd in İzmir whistled and yelled in protest of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, and the immediate recipient of the protests was Günay, who was present to participate in the ceremonies. Local administrators from the AKP and the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) became involved in a fight that was calmed down by deputies.

The ceremonies marking Sept. 9 have always, since the founding of the Turkish Republic, included mounted troops carrying the Turkish flag and flying it at the office of the governor of İzmir, but a new regulation issued in May of this year restricts such ceremonies. The İzmir Governor’s Office had announced earlier that the mounted troops, the flag ceremony and the parade at Cumhuriyet Square would be canceled. A number of organizations in İzmir lodged complaints about the decision. Günay, who is also a deputy from İzmir, had intervened in the debate, and the regulation was revoked.