
Thousands of supporters from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's AKP party and the opposition CHP join forces Sunday, July 24, in an anti-coup rally in Istanbul's Taksim Square.

Although the opposition denounced the coup and supported Erdogan, it has voted against his state of emergency declaration. Secularists have said their rejection of the coup does not mean they agree with government measures enacted afterward.

The cross-party event was held in honor of democracy and to protest the attempted coup that took place in the early hours of July 16.

The mood at the demonstration, dubbed the "Republic and Democracy Rally," was celebratory and patriotic and a rare show of unity between government and opposition supporters.

"We are all together in Taksim today," Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the opposition, told supporters. "Today is a day we made history all together,"

Since the attempted coup, Turkey's government has fired or suspended 50,000 people from the country's institutions and security forces.