Members of the Turkish community yesterday afternoon held a protest march in Valletta to create awareness about the situation in Turkey. A number of Maltese nationals also joined in the protest. The protesters carried Turkish flags and pictures of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern secular Turkey.

Earlier in the day a delegation from the Chapulling Community, a group that supports the protest movement in Turkey, met Prime Minister Joseph Muscat at Auberge de Castille.

Dr Muscat said the Government joined the EU in its appeal for a peaceful resolution to the problems in Turkey. He hoped that common sense would prevail and a solution that respected democracy would be found.

Among those who met Dr Muscat was nine year old Diaz Zammit Arikan who wants the violence against protestors in Turkey to stop.

“The Turkish government is humiliating its people... the violence should stop now not later,” he told journalists as he punched his own hand.

Aslihan Arikan Zammit, Diaz’s mother, said their aim was to stop the aggression and violence in her home country. She called on Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to be “sane and calm” so that matters would be resolved in a democratic way.

Christina Basak said it was important that the Turks’ voice was heard in the international media because when the police used force against protesters, Turkish media were showing documentaries of penguins and cooking programmes.