What’s happening in Istanbul?
by Insanlik Hali on 05 Jun 2013 3 Comments

I am writing for friends who live outside to Turkey to let you know what is going on in Istanbul for the last five days. I personally have to write this because most of the media sources are shut down by the government and the word of mouth and the internet are the only ways left for us to explain ourselves and call for help and support.

 

Four days ago a group of people, most of whom did not belong to any specific organization or ideology, got together in Istanbul’s Gezi Park. Among them there were many of my friends and students. Their reason was simple: To prevent and protest the upcoming demolishing of the park for the sake of building yet another shopping mall at very center of the city.

 

There are numerous shopping malls in Istanbul, at least one in every neighborhood! The tearing down of the trees was supposed to begin early Thursday morning. People went to the park with their blankets, books and children. They put their tents down and spent the night under the trees. Early in the morning when the bulldozers started to pull the hundred-year-old trees out of the ground, they stood up against them to stop the operation.

 

They did nothing other than standing in front of the machines.

 

No newspaper, no television channel was there to report the protest. It was a complete media black out.

 

But the police arrived with water cannon vehicles and pepper spray.  They chased the crowds out of the park.

 

In the evening the number of protesters multiplied. So did the number of police forces around the park. Meanwhile local government of Istanbul shut down all the ways leading up to Taksim square where the Gezi Park is located. The metro was shut down, ferries were cancelled, roads were blocked.

 

Yet more and more people made their way up to the center of the city by walking. They came from all around Istanbul. They came from all different backgrounds, different ideologies, different religions. They all gathered to prevent the demolition of something bigger than the park:

The right to live as honorable citizens of this country.

 

They gathered and marched. Police chased them with pepper spray and tear gas and drove their tanks over people who offered the police food in return. Two young people were run over by the panzers and were killed. Another young woman, a friend of mine, was hit in the head by one of the incoming tear gas canisters. The police were shooting them straight into the crowd. After a three hour operation she is still in Intensive Care Unit and in very critical condition. As I write this we don’t know if she is going to make it. This is dedicated to her.

 

These people are my friends. They are my students, my relatives. They have no “hidden agenda” as the state likes to say. Their agenda is out there. It is very clear. The whole country is being sold to corporations by the government, for the construction of malls, luxury condominiums, freeways, dams and nuclear plants. The government is looking for (and creating when necessary) any excuse to attack Syria against its people’s will.

 

On top of all that, the government control over its people’s personal lives has become unbearable as of late. The state, under its conservative agenda passed many laws and regulations concerning abortion, cesarean birth, sale and use of alcohol and even the color of lipstick worn by the airline stewardesses.

 

People who are marching to the center of Istanbul are demanding their right to live freely and receive justice, protection and respect from the State. They demand to be involved in the decision-making processes about the city they live in.

 

What they have received instead is excessive force and enormous amounts of tear gas shot straight into their faces. Three people lost their eyes.

 

Yet they still march. Hundreds of thousands join them. Couple of more thousand passed the Bosporus Bridge on foot to support the people of Taksim.

 

No newspaper or TV channel was there to report the events. They were busy with broadcasting news about Miss Turkey and “the strangest cat of the world”.

 

Police kept chasing people and spraying them with pepper spray to an extent that stray dogs and cats were poisoned and died by it.

 

Schools, hospitals and even 5 star hotels around Taksim Square opened their doors to the injured. Doctors filled the classrooms and hotel rooms to provide first aid. Some police officers refused to spray innocent people with tear gas and quit their jobs. Around the square they placed jammers to prevent internet connection and 3g networks were blocked. Residents and businesses in the area provided free wireless network for the people on the streets. Restaurants offered food and water for free.

 

People in Ankara and Izmir gathered on the streets to support the resistance in Istanbul.

 

Mainstream media kept showing Miss Turkey and “the strangest cat of the world”.

User Comments Post a Comment
What is happening in Turkey is what is happening in the whole world except a few countries. The budget is designed by the IMF. The rulers are appointed by the Empire. Democracy is a red herring. People are made slaves of the new order. Thinks hard it is happening in India, Sri Lanka, Bangala desh in fact the whole of south Asia. Complacency of the masses and the greed of the political/corporate class are the driving force.
jan
June 05, 2013
Report Abuse
Agree with the last comment that fear and complacency and lack of will power to even question logic is the root cause. Today the world has more literate people and very very few educated ones.
RT
June 05, 2013
Report Abuse
It became increasingly apparent in the last few years that Erdogan is gradually turning into a dictator. He is trying to get elected as President under a new constitution which would give him almost uncontested power to carry out his authoritarian agenda, partly inspired by Saudi religious and political influence and economically ultra-liberal. Turkey is after all in West Asia and the temptation is strong there for all rulers to become lifelong despots. Many people in Turkey are getting increasingly worried about Erdogan's tyrannical streak and his imperial overreach.
Anon
June 05, 2013
Report Abuse