Gigantic Rally Held in Support for Menderes' Movement

A rally held by Adnan Menderes in the country's hinterlands drew crowds comparable to when speeches were given by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in the heart of Istanbul. the Turkish leader was distraught when hearing the recount of the rally, which went off without a hitch and where Menderes announced that his official opposition party would be unveiled to the nation very soon. A string of speakers came out, each preaching the importance of religion in everyday life and in politics and every one of them generally sponsoring an ideology of traditionalist conservatism - some of the speakers even spoke in endearing terms of the long vanquished Ottoman sultanate and caliphate! Menderes himself took the stage last and spoke in much more measured terms compared to some of the speakers whose act he was following up. Menderes jovially expounded the virtues of laissez-faire liberalism to his audience, and heaped praise upon the Kemalists for all they had done for the nation before undercutting that praise with a great deal of criticism. The attendees left the rally ecstatic and confident of their chances of winning the election. The devotedly Kemalist officer corps have approached the government and in no uncertain terms demanded that the CHP do more to curb the rising influence of Menderes and his conservative populist movement. A representative of the officer corps stated that the country's officers would never serve a Menderes government, and hinted at taking their own extreme actions should we fail to curb what they see as a fundamental threat to the Kemalist system.