Government must allow the justice march to be completed

Only a day after main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said he was worried about possible "provocative" attacks on his justice march, aiming to get it blocked before reaching Istanbul, police announced on July 5 that they had arrested six suspected members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). They were reportedly preparing an attack on the 21st day of the march, which is attended by thousands of people.

In the morning hours, the police blocked to traffic a lane of the D-100 state highway, which the march from Ankara to Istanbul has been continuing on. CHP sources told the Hürriyet Daily News that the move was coordinated with them by the police after intelligence was received that ISIL members may attempt to drive into the crowd, similar to the group's attacks in a number of European cities. 

Kılıçdaroğlu recently voiced concerns about possible attacks by ultra-nationalist groups within the "Ülkücü" movement, which could be used by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Parti) as a pretext to halt the March before it reaches Istanbul to end with a public rally on July 9. Yesterday, on July 5, Kılıçdaroğlu's press adviser Okan Konuralp told HDN that "many Ülkücü spokespeople have been in contact to say that anyone thinking about committing such attacks does not represent them." The executive committee of the CHP, which convened during a break in yesterday's march, asked the government authorities to use more careful language about the march, in order to avoid inspiring ill-willed people.

President Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım have repeatedly claimed that the march actually "serves coup plotters" and "separatist terrorists," especially because of its timing just...