Turkish residents protest homecountry's leadership in St Julian's rally

Members of Malta’s Turkish community took to the streets Sunday in protest against their homecountry’s leadership.

The protest follows similar action in Valletta last weekend in response to the contentious arrest of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s main opposition rival on graft charges.

Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was arrested just days before he was due to formally be declared a candidate to oppose Erdogan in elections in 2028.

Imamoglu’s arrest has sparked widespread unrest across Turkey, leading to clashes between protesters and riot police and the arrests of thousands of people, including journalists covering the protesters.

European governments have called the actions of Turkey’s leadership “unacceptable” and a "serious attack on democracy".

Protesters told Times of Malta "we want our country back". Photo: Jonathan Borg.

Protesters in St Julian’s gathered at the locality’s ‘love sign’ monument holding placards reading 'freedom for detained and arrested students' and 'hope and resistance'. 

Other placards, some in Turkish and some English, read, 'if we burn, you burn with us' and 'Imamoglu, political prisoner'.

Others held up the country's flag while the crowd sang along to Turkish songs played from a speaker.

They chanted slogans including "rights, law, justice".

One organiser, originally from Istanbul, told Times of Malta protestors were "fed up" with Erdogan's rule and said they "don't want a dictatorship anymore". 

Asked about developments back home, she said that while she was sad, the protests made her hopeful.

Demonstrator Ezgi Gursu, a financial worker who has lived in Malta for three years, said "[Turkey] was once a country with separation of powers; now [Erdogan] holds all the power... we don't know if we can say we are a democracy".

Responding to arrests back home, she stressed those were "just from this year;  [the government] was arresting people all the time".

"We want our country back," said Gursu, who represents the Workers' Party of Turkey in Malta.  

As the crowd marched towards Balluta, they chanted, "Everywhere is Istanbul, everywhere is resistance".

A passing motorcyclist beeped his horn in time with the protesters' chants, seemingly in support, while later a small group of friends standing outside a nearby apartment block clapped as the crowd passed by.

Not everyone on the protesters' route appeared supportive. Among them, three women standing on a nearby elevated balcony chanted Erdogan's name at the protesters. 

The crowd met the president's name with cries of: "We stand together against fascism, resisting, we will win".

Protestor Serkan Zihli, who has lived in Malta for five years but said he left Turkey a decade ago to escape the regime, stressed that with millions of Turks living in Europe, "our democracy is the EU's problem".

Sunday's protest drew attendees of different ages. Photo: Jonathan Borg.

Erdogan has ruled Turkey for more than 20 years, occupying the roles of both prime minister and president.

While he has been credited with helping to modernise the country, he has also been accused of becoming increasingly autocratic and chipping away at the secular principles of the republic as established by its founding father Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

On Sunday, Erdogan’s administration confirmed a Swedish journalist had been detained on arrival in Turkey to cover the protests on terror-related charges and for "insulting the president", according to AFP.

The media outlet said, meanwhile, that many protesters had been arrested at their homes in pre-dawn raids after being identified at protests by facial recognition software.