Organized under the leadership of the Atatürk Airport Cabbies Cooperative, the “No to Pirate Cabs” rally saw the participation of taxi cab drivers and their families, workers at taxi call centers and public figures such as Republican People's Party (CHP) İstanbul deputy Mehmet Sevigen, Şişli Mayor Mustafa Sarıgül and actors from the television series “Akasya Durağı.” Demonstrators carried signs with slogans including “No to Pirate Cabs,” “Protect Cabbies' Rights” and “Thief Keep Your Hands Off My Bread.”According to cooperative President Fahrettin Can, the number of illegally operated taxi services has been expanding in İstanbul in recent years, and there are already three times as many illegal cabs operating in the city as registered, licensed cabs. At the rally, Can called on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government to put an end to pirate cabs, saying: “My esteemed Prime Minister, our reason for gathering at Çağlayan is the thieves, the shameless, the bandits who operate taxis under rent-a-car business fronts. We're not able to earn our bread money. You have the ability to end this theft and this shamelessness in the same way that you ended pickpocketing and purse-snatching in İstanbul.”
Can said some estimates pinned the number of pirate cabs in İstanbul at 25,000 and, noting that they did not pay any commercial taxes, also noted the usage of pirate cab services in a number of recent crimes, including the grisly murder of a young İstanbul woman, Münevver Karabulut, in March.
