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Southeast Europe
June 16, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 14
of local communities in Serbia, before joining the government in August 2016.
Giving a mandate to form new government to Brnabic is therefore a sign for investors that the country and its society – or at least, its president – are ready to change, develop and modernise. However, in a country where just a few years ago the Pride march was banned – it was deemed
a “high risk event” by the authorities – there has already been a backlash against Brnabic’s appointment from conservative politicians and religious leaders.
Turkish opposition leader sets out on 425km “justice march” for jailed MP
bne IntelliNews
The leader of Turkey’s main opposition party
on June 15 started out on a 425-kilometre (265- mile) “march for justice” from central Ankara to the Istanbul prison where journalist and MP Enis Berberoglu has been incarcerated after being jailed for 25 years on spying charges. Several thousand protesters joined 69-year-old Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu at the start of a walk expected to take around four weeks.
"Our struggle will continue until there is justice in this country," Kilicdaroglu declared to reporters at the start-point in the capital’s Guvenpark. “This march is not about any political party, this is a march for justice. We don’t want to live in a coun- try where there is no justice. Enough is enough,” Kilicdaroglu added, while holding a banner read- ing “Justice”.
“Vucic’s choice of new PM designate wasn’t easy because of not-hidden and deep rooted Balkan homophobia. Ana Brnabic is the first openly LGBT PM in the Balkans, and the first female PM in Serbia,” Milan Jovanovic, president and founder of the Belgrade based NGO Forum for Security and Democracy, told bne IntelliNews.
Jovanovic believes that Vucic’s decision to give the mandate for a new government to Brnabic will not be accepted in a peaceful and democratic manner by the conservative part of Serbia or the Russo- phile opposition.
CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu (waving) has faced criticism for not doing enough to challenge President Erdogan's tightened regime, but thousands were attracted to the start of his "March for Justice". "Adalet" means "Justice".
Mainstream Turkish media did not report how many people turned up at the protest. Some left- leaning media outlets, however, said that “tens of thousands of people” took to the streets in Anka- ra, while not reporting anything approximating an exact figure. It is, however, difficult to verify their reports.
The march amounts to an unprecedented politi- cal move by Kilicdaroglu. It remains to be seen whether it will represent a turning point for the CHP and if it will have any significant impact on Turkey’s political scene, which has been domi- nated by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for 15 years. Thanks to an indefinite state of emergency declared after last year’s failed coup, Erdogan, who has gained the right to form an executive presidency after officially narrowly winning an April referendum, can rule by decree. More than 50,000 people have been jailed and more than