Today March 31, 2016, on the sideline of President Erdogan’s speech at the Brookings Institute, hundreds of angry protestors chanted slogans against him and his domestic and regional policies.
Protesters gathered following a call by the Amnesty International USA under the slogan of “Obama Must Urge an End to the Onslaught on Kurds During Turkish President’s Visit.”
By 11:30 AM, hundreds of Kurdish, Armenian, Greek and Cypriot protestors had joined the Amnesty-International-led protests. They were holding placards with slogans such as “Turkey Stop Killing Kurds”, “Turkey Stop Denying Armenian Genocide”, “Turkey Stop War on Kurds” and “Erdogan War Criminal On the Loose.”
“Long Live America”, “Long Live Armenia”, “Long Live Kurdistan”, “Erdogan al-Baghdadi”, “Terrorist Erdogan” and “Fascist Erdogan” were among many slogans they were continuously chanting from 11:30-2:30 PM when Erdogan left the Brookings Institute.
Waving flags of the YPG (People’s Protection Units), the YPJ (Women’s Protection Units), the Iraqi Kurdistan and the United States of America were also evident from hundreds of feet away.
Protestors who continuously were threatened by President Erdogan’s bodyguards also did Kurdish dance shoulder by shoulder in response
It is worth mentioning that such prominent Turkish journalists as Amberin Zaman and Ilhan Tanir were not allowed to attend the speech and were walked out of the conference room by Erdogan’s bodyguards.
In the end, the protesters expressed their appreciation to the police forces for protecting them.
