A group of Turkish activists continues marching from Istanbul to Gaza to call attention to Israel’s intensifying attacks on the besieged city and the massacring of Palestinians, according to the Turkish newspaper Sabah.
“The March of the Free,” consisting of some 20 people from doctors to poets, students to engineers, was formed following the Israeli strike on the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital on Oct. 22, which left over 400 people dead.
Having set out from Türkiye’s biggest metropolitan Istanbul the same day, the group reached Ankara on Sunday. Moving down to the southern Hatay province, they plan to reach the Palestinian border on Nov. 22.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s call to humanity to react to the “atrocity” after Israel launched airstrikes in retaliation to a Hamas attack on Oct. 7 was what spurred the group to take a “silent” action and march to Palestine, according to one participant Mehmet Akıncı.
“Israel is now mocking the whole world. We wanted to take action and not stay silent on this violence,” Akıncı, a 53-year-old literature teacher and poet, told Sabah.
The activists, ranging in age from 25 to 55, initially set out as a group of seven or eight, not caring how many people there were, according to Akıncı.
“We opted for the longer road because we wanted to remind people of this. This isn’t just a matter of faith. These attacks exceed faith. This is a problem for humanity,” he argued.
Another participant dubbed their protest a “march of shame.”
“We’re walking for hundreds of children that faced death just for being born in a different landscape,” Tolga Daver said. “Walking was the simplest thing we could do. It’s better than sitting. If we find a more useful thing than walking, we are ready to do that, as well.”
Reactions the group faced on the road so far have been “wonderful,” according to Daver. “Drivers have kept us company with their horns. People opened up their homes and tables for us. Everyone is going by with the passion of being able to do something,” he said.
Daver also commended President Erdoğan for “leading a state policy as a protector of the downtrodden” regarding the crisis in Gaza.
Ayla Daver empathizes with Palestinian mothers and children as a mother of two.
“Every single person there is a precious life. The way I wouldn’t want any harm to befall my child, I share the same feeling for (Palestinians) as well. Like every child, Palestinian children are so precious,” Daver said.
Postgraduate student Hanife Genç, the group’s youngest at 25, said she has been praying for Palestinians since the attacks began, “But I didn’t want to stand up to this atrocity just by praying.”
She wanted to “move and draw the world’s attention.”
“We all get physically tired, but God gives us strength for this righteous cause,” Genç said.
For Semih Özmekik, the march means “the war between his faith and reality.”
“Because there is currently a reality and we can only say words and see this doesn’t have any impact,” Özmekik said.
He believes people coming together in large numbers and marching to the Palestinian borders could achieve a result.
For Talha Küçükkaya, the group’s actions can be described as “an effort to step up to the plate.”
“If hundreds of thousands of people gather on the border, I believe the psychological threshold over the Muslim community could be overcome,” Küçükkaya said. “If this is a nightmare, we believe in a dream.”
Israel’s war on Gaza has been going on for 31 days, during which the world’s most densely populated area has been bombarded nonstop.
At least 10,022 Palestinians, including 4,104 children and 2,641 women, have been killed in Israeli strikes.
Another 159 Palestinians have been killed and 2,250 wounded by Israeli forces across the West Bank in the same period.
In addition to planeloads of humanitarian aid Ankara has sent to be passed into Gaza through Egypt’s Rafah border crossing, human rights activities and nongovernmental organizations have mobilized countless people in Türkiye who have raised convoys of aid..
Citizens have also been holding rallies nationwide calling for a stop to Israel’s brutal campaign while public agencies, municipalities and universities in dozens of provinces have announced a boycott of goods of Israeli origin.
Since last week, companies run by municipalities, universities and facilities run by local branches of the government issued statements saying they would not sell the goods in the canteens and other venues, including the Turkish Parliament.
Over the past few weeks, several media outlets have been publishing a list of goods produced by companies openly supporting Israel in its atrocities against Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
Several nongovernmental organizations have been calling for a boycott since the latest round of the Palestine-Israel conflict broke out in October. Social media users fervently advocate boycotts with lists of products, including everything from Coca-Cola to products of multinational conglomerate Unilever.
The boycott call gained momentum in the past two weeks. At a meeting with representatives of nongovernmental organizations in October, professor Ali Erbaş, head of the Presidency of Religious Affairs (DIB), called for “a decisive, constant boycott” of companies “supporting Zionism.”
At the same meeting, Bilal Erdoğan, chairperson of the board of trustees of Ilim Yayma Vakfı (the Foundation for the Expansion of Knowledge), called on fellow organizations to join the boycott.
“We represent an important market (for Israeli products). Türkiye has sufficient local brands and does not solely rely on brands supporting Israel. We have to exert efforts to make the boycott widespread,” he said.
Osman Nuri Kabaktepe, head of the Istanbul branch of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), has urged all institutions, civilian or public, to declare a boycott against Israeli products “until the establishment of a fully independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital,” in a social media post on Sunday.
AK Party-run municipalities announced boycotts in their public facilities successively over the past week.
In October, the youth branch of the AK Party simultaneously launched a 30-minute sit-in strike at branches of the coffee chain Starbucks across Türkiye for a campaign entitled “Say Stop.” The party members donning scarves with colors of the Palestinian flag quietly sat at Starbucks stores in protest of what they called the American coffee chain’s support for Israel.
Türkiye’s top higher education school, Boğaziçi University, joined the boycott. The Boğaziçi presidency announced Tuesday they would “no longer conduct academic cooperation with institutions or representatives in Israel who choose to stay silent or support Israel’s treatment of civilians.”
The boycott will continue until there is a permanent cease-fire in Gaza, the university said in a statement titled “We Stand with Palestine.”
Israel’s attacks on Gaza now verge on a 21st genocide, the statement read, adding that Boğaziçi University condemns the inhumane situation.
It also called on the international academic community to speak up and act against Israel’s bombing of the Al-Azhar University and what has been unfolding in Gaza.
Private institution Istanbul 29 Mayıs University also joined Boğaziçi as it announced canteens and cafeterias on school grounds would “no longer sell goods of brands that support the crimes being committed against humanity in Palestine.”
The boycott of Israeli products and products of Western companies endorsing Israel swept the Middle Eastern countries after the attacks on Gaza.
Across the region, Arabs angered by the Israeli attacks have turned against brands associated with Israel’s allies, notably the U.S. The boycott has been accompanied by calls for Arab states to cut ties with Israel, while pro-Palestinian rallies have taken place weekly in major capitals.
Led by tech-savvy youth, the boycott campaign includes browser extensions, dedicated websites and smartphone apps that identify proscribed products. One Google Chrome extension, PalestinePact, blurs items advertised online if they are included in the list.
More traditional methods are also in use.
Beside a four-lane highway in Kuwait City, giant billboards show images of blood-stained children in bandages. “Did you kill a Palestinian today?” the grim slogan asks, jabbing at consumers who are still using the targeted goods.
McDonald’s has found itself a prime target. Last month, the U.S. fast food chain’s Israel franchise announced it had given thousands of free meals to the Israeli army, sparking uproar in the region. McDonald’s Kuwait, a separate entity, responded by pledging more than $160,000 to relief efforts in Gaza and said it “stands with Palestine” in a statement on social media. McDonald’s Qatar also pledged $275,000 to relief efforts in Gaza and stressed in a statement last month that it was separate from the Israeli branches.
Türkiye champions the Palestinian cause for independence and advocates a two-state solution to the conflict. After the Israeli attacks, it has been more critical of Israel and plans to take the Israeli leaders to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes.
President Erdoğan, who led a solidarity rally with Palestinians in October, announced an informal freeze in relations with Israel, scrapping plans to visit Israel. Later, Türkiye recalled its ambassador to Israel, just as Israel did, by withdrawing its diplomats, citing security reasons.
Israel and Türkiye had only just agreed to reappoint ambassadors last year. They were also resuming discussions on a U.S.-backed natural gas pipeline project that could have formed the basis for much closer and more lasting cooperation in the coming years.
Türkiye exerts efforts for mediation in the conflict but opposes the international community’s biased approach, siding with Israel solely while ignoring the tragedy of Palestinians in the Gaza enclave besieged by Tel Aviv. Before the latest conflict erupted, Türkiye was taking strides to restore ties frayed by Israel’s stance against Palestinians, particularly on Gaza and illegal settlements.
