Journalists, Attorneys, Academics Call for Solidarity With March for Freedom of Thought, Expression, Press

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Ahead of the march for freedom of thought, expression and press on December 1, 2017, journalists, academics and attorneys have called for solidarity and participation to the march on social media.

The March has been organized by journalists, academics and attorneys on Saturday, December 1, 2017 for freedom of thought, expression and press and will start at 2 p.m. at Mehmet Ayvalıtaş Parkı in Kadıköy, İstanbul.

The activists have started a campaign on social media and shared the solidarity campaign with the hashtag #HaydiSöyle (come on, speak up). The hashtag of the campaign has become the second trending topic in Turkey's agenda.

Some highlights from the campaign call are as follows:

"They say, everybody should remain silent. Nobody should think, nobody should speak, nobody should object; everybody should obey...Therefore they arrest journalists, discharge academics from universities, they try to bring lawsuits against them. To leave the ones who insist on not to obey, without defence, they jail the attorneys. Well, will we accept this dark picture? Definitely not!".

Journalists, academics and attorneys continue their campaign on social media ahead of the trials of the academics who have signed the peace declaration (hearing on December 5, 2017) and the Cumhuriyet trial (hearing on December 25-26, 2017) to call for support for further marches. (EA/DG)