GEZİ REZISTANCE

By Burcu Yiğiter

September 2013

burcu_yigiter@yahoo.com

INTRODUCTION

Gezi Park protests are a touchstone in modern Turkish history. It has roots in corruptive policies of

government, a misguided crisis of reconstruction of a park, brutal police violence, and last but not the

least need to raise voices about the things that don’t go well.

Gezi events started around 27th of May 2013 when the Municipality of Istanbul started demolition of

trees in Gezi Park, one of the few parks in the city center, where people could have a breathe among

the rush of the city. A small protest turned into a major event.

This article is about the events revolving around Gezi Park, Taksim Square, and Beşiktaş and finally

spreading many big cities all over Turkey under main topics that could be listed as follows:

Against AKP(Ruling party) and Erdoğan (Prime Minister)

Against police violence

Against recent prohibition exhaust on abortion, increasing taxes, alcohol consumption, closing

city theatres, demolishing cultural centers like an old cinema.

Against AKP policies for turning some areas into residences and shopping malls without any

public coverage.

Against the media that turns a blind eye to these groundbreaking events

What is Gezi

Gezi is a park in Istanbul Taksim/Beyoğlu area in Turkey. It’s owned by Istanbul Municipality with

condition of using it only for the public purpose. It is located in a triangle of the Besiktas District

Centre, Taksim Square and Harbiye (boulevard) (see below.) This triangle is for public gathering. It is

always crowded and lies in the middle of a place full of bars, pubs, exhibitions, theatres, cinemas, and

cultural/tourism centers.

Besiktas Gezi

Taksim Square

Gezi

Taksim Square

Gezi Park is, like every park, have trees, decorative ponds, banks, and also a small auditorium. It has

an opening to Taksim Square, which is at the center of many public events, concerts, festivals and

May Day celebrations. It has also another opening to Taksim Metro station, which makes it a place

everybody passes. It is also nearby the shuttle station to two airports of Istanbul. This makes Gezi a

park for resting for tourists before they take their shuttle. Lastly it is neighboring the hotels area of

Taksim, where is full of nice hotels with pedestrian roads.

Gezi was not as popular as Taksim square; however it has always been like bases in a song… It

was always there, and people haven’t realized it existed until the risk of disappearance appears.1

Gezi’s Short History

In 18th and 19th century whole Gezi Park and Taksim Square are empty fields, where soldiers did

their training. Besides there were some cemeteries; but they were later carried to other neighboring

places like Şişli, Feriköy and Nişantaşı. The place nearby Gezi Park lies Harbiye, which is one of the

military centers where includes places for training and also a hospital. On the place, where is now Gezi

Park, there used to be Topçu Barracks.

In the late 18th century Ottoman Empire started to build a western style army and started to build

modern barracks for their training. Topçu was one of them. Topçu was built in 1803 on a field, where

was empty and no housing. In 1870 Beyoğlu municipality made arrangements to the area and build a

park on the northern side of the barrack. Then the barrack and this area had been sold to a foreign

company, despite the objections. Through the end of World War I, Ottoman Empire needed the

barrack and bought it back. When WWI was ended platforms were put in the garden of the barracks

and it hosted some sports competitions. With the foundation of the Turkish Republic this whole area

was planned to be a green area and in 1940 Topçu was demolished and Gezi Park was built. What

1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ot8AmQQqr8

happened to the platforms could be seen now in Istanbul that they were carried down from the Taksim

hill next to Dolmabahçe Palace in the name of the İnönü Stadium of Besiktas Sports Club.

When it comes to the historical significance of Topçu, one need to look back to 31 March 1909

rebellion that shaped the way through the independence and foundation of Turkey. In 1909, the

Ottoman Empire had to give rights to the National Assembly that happened during 2nd

Constitutionalism Phase. On 31 March 1909 a major resurrection happened in Istanbul against the new

constitutionalism moves. Conservatives that include clerics and some military people were in

objection to new constitutionalism and they want the ruling of Islamic Law to be the sole authority to

rule the Empire. This major event is called 31 March Rebellion and it became a touchstone of Turkish

recent history when a military force came to the capital of the empire and to suppress this bloody

resurrection.

The military forces that came to push the Islamic Lawsupporters were headed by successful military

leaders. During the suppression, the founder of the Turkish Republic to be Colonel Mustafa Kemal

showed a great success. This opened Mustafa Kemal the way to start the process of independence of

the country from Islamic Law-prone Ottoman Empire to a secular Turkish Republic. This 31 March

rebellion started in ‘The Topçu Barracks’. It has a symbolic value for the Islamic Lawsupporters.

Seeing that Gezi Park was built on the place of Topçu Kışlası this can be inferred that its history

shows the symbolism ascribed to Gezi Park events. The events took spark from the construction

Project Pedestrian Taksim, which is designed basically to empty the area from highway traffic, and re-

build Topçu Barracks again as a mixture of cultural center, shopping mall and residences. 2

2 http://www.dw.de/top%C3%A7u-k%C4%B1%C5%9Flas%C4%B1n%C4%B1n-tarih%C3%AE-

anlam%C4%B1/a-16879025

What is the Project Pedestrian Taksim

On 12 June 2011, Prime Minister Erdogan, who is also former Mayor of Istanbul, announced a

project that targeted a re-construction of Taksim area. This reconstruction was going to make Taksim

Square a totally pedestrian area when highway traffic was going to be put under the surface via

tunnels. However, Topçu Barracks was planned to build on the area where was going to be evacuated

from car traffic and dedicated only for pedestrians.

Topçu Barracks before it

was demolished

Topçu Barracks before it was

demolished (Now its Gezi Park)

Taksim Square

On the other hand, Prime Minister Erdoğan has always been interested in Taksim area, where is a

center for entertainment, culture, and gatherings. His other two projects were to renew the Atatürk

Centre for Culture and Building a Grand Mosque for Taksim. 3

Atatürk Centre for Culture was built around 1970’s and it has an architectural and cultural value of

reflecting the needs, tastes and culture of that period. On the other hand, Taksim area is famous for its

night life and concentration of bars and clubs. The idea of building a big mosque in the middle of the

square disturbed many people due its symbolism of Islamic Law and alcohol free zone on a place

where religious symbols were few. 4

3 http://www.ibb.gov.tr/tr-TR/Pages/Haber.aspx?NewsID=21229

4 http://www.radikal.com.tr/politika/erdogan_akm_yikilacak_taksime_cami_de_yapilacak-1135947

Taksim Square

New Topçu (Gezi Park)

Another cultural symbol of Taksim area was a cinema/theatre called Emek. Emek Cinema Hall was

built in 1924 and demolished in 2013 in order to build a shopping mall called ‘Grand Pera’.

Moreover, the plan of Project of building a 3rd Bridge on Bosporus includes demolition of around

1.5 million trees. This took protests due to such a huge killing of trees. During Gezi protests the

construction took start. However, just after the beginning of the construction it stopped due to wrong

planning. Authorities stated that a mistake was made about the direction of the road after demolition of

some 250 thousand trees. Interestingly enough the Bridge’s name was announced to be Yavuz Sultan

Selim, who is an Ottoman Sultan lived in the 16th century and earned The Caliphate for Ottoman

Empire, which became a strong figure for Islamic Law Rule. Names of the other two bridges were

Bosporus and Fatih Sultan Mehmet (conquer of Istanbul).

Turning cultural, historical and social symbols into shopping malls took many objections from

different levels of society.

When Did The Protests Start?

On 27 May 2013 construction in Gezi Park started. Then it is realized that this was not only a

construction but also the demolition of trees in the park. When this tree cutting was spread among

environmentalist a crown of 50 persons summoned in Gezi Park and did their passive protests by

sitting in the park. Demolition stopped for a while because of the existence of the protesters. This

spread quickly throughout social media via Twitter and Facebook sharing websites.

Atatürk Center of Culture

Thousands of people raised their objections to this via social media. However on 28th of May police

forces attacked on the protesters, who were insisting on their claims saying the demolition of the park

is not legal. Usage of tear gas was taken to be unnecessary by tens of thousands when the interference

of the police was documented in the social media.

Sırrı Süreyya Önder, an MP of BDP (Kurdish Based) party arrived to Gezi and tried to stop the

diggers that were demolishing trees. He was successful in stopping the construction. The construction,

according to TMMOB (Turkish Chamber of Architects and Engineers), is not legal. Thousands of

members of TMMOB joined protests and then later this resulted in a pass of a law that bans TMMOB

to give occupational consultancy to construction projects.

On 29th of May protests continued under the pressure of police. The crowd was not only made by

environmentalists but very different parts of the society. Police intervention was still unnecessarily

harsh, since the protests were passive and unarmed. The support of people even came from their work

places with their suits. As if Gezi protests were not enough, prime minister pressed the start button of

the construction of the 3rd bridge on Bosporus with the expressions targeting people in Gezi. He stated

that they will build the bridge despite the protests.5

Reuters Agency photos of the protests took a lot of attention, since local media did not seem

interested. Especially one photo of a woman in red under police tear gas attach took a lot of attention

and became the first symbol of the resistance. Woman in red then discovered to be an instructor in

Istanbul Technical University board of City Planning. She is an expert and she also protested the

construction in Gezi. The police was pouring tear gas on this passive woman and she never seemed

panicked. She gave a small interview to English Press. She stated she is just one of the people who

were under this police violence. English press also condemned the police who attacked a protester,

who was under ‘picnic’ dress.

Woman in red and jokes, words and stories about her started the most important part of the protests:

‘humor’. The photograph spread with the speed of light.

5 http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/23390657.asp

On 30th of May 2013 at 5:00 am, police entered the park and put the tents of the protesters on fire

without making any warning. When protests wanted to get their personal belongings police again

answered the tear gas. This was followed by Greenpeace’s announcement and support of political

figures like CHP (Opposition Party) party President Gürsel Tekin.6

Artists and public figures then entered to arena by coming to Gezi to join the protests, which turned

into an activity of reading books on 30 May evening. Okan Bayülgen, well known artist and talk show

host, read books to protesters from his radio show.7 Social Media was full of pictures of readers in

Gezi and their intercourse with the police. The whole protest now became ‘Gezi Park Watch’ to keep

construction away from the police, who were always there and waiting for the orders. With the

increasing crowd, the number of police has increased and their shift that lasted tens of hours stated.

This long shift of the police then thought to be one of the reasons of brutality. Before the evening of

May 30th thousands came to park to support the ‘watch’.

On 31th of May early in the morning police resume intervention with excessive amount of tear gas

and with coercive water from the vehicles called TOMA (Vehicle for Public Event Intervention).

6 http://www.greenpeace.org/turkey/tr/news/siddeti-ve-doga-kiyimini-kiniyoruz-400513/

7 http://www.insanhaber.com/medya/okan-bayulgen-gezi-parkindan-canli-yayinda-h15473.html

Amnesty International condemned the use of excessive tear gas. Pictures and testimonials grew like

an avalanche8. Thanks to social media everybody knew everything about the resistance minute by

minute. Hashtags like #occupygezi, #occupytaksim carries millions of tweets between people. Public

figures, celebrities and singers came to Gezi or they tweeted about the events to show their support.

The hottest topic was the brutality of police intervention against a very pacifist event; followed by the

excessive use of tear gas.

More support came from other big cities of Turkey: Eskişehir, Ankara (Capital), Izmir, Adana,

Antalya and Bursa. The main theme was brutal police violence and aims of putting a shopping mall on

a beautiful park.

8 http://humanrightsturkey.org/2013/05/30/amnesty-condemns-excessive-force-at-gezi-park/

Night of 31st of May major gathering around Gezi and Taksim area started. People, regardless of

their political view came to Gezi to support the protesters and also to protest police violence. Finally

football fans got together in the main squares and boulevards of Istanbul and marched to Taksim.

Besiktas district is neighboring Taksim area and the first football fan group to support Gezi was

Besiktas football fan group called Çarşı. Hundred thousands of people marched to Taksim and Gezi

through the ways from Harbiye, Besiktas and Tophane. Police increased its forces and used excessive

amount of tear gas without following the tear gas usage instructions. Tear gas cartridges shall not be

fired closer than 120 meters and shall be with an angle of 45 degrees. And it should not be used by

high amounts. These instructions were all ignored by the police that even the next day remainders of

tear gas were affecting people who try to go to their works.

The next day there were thousands of injuries and thousands of empty tear gas bomb cartridges on

the roads. However protests continued. That night via social media people shared information,

pictures, and evidence of illegal intervention of the police. Then finally 3G connections were cut.

However people connected via WI-Fi of the hotels, bars and restaurants in the area. Flow of

information was continued.

Some restaurants, residences and buildings opened their doors to resisters, who have been sprayed

with tear gas that came from either independent police guns or from vehicles called ‘Scorpion’.

Starbucks located nearby Gezi Park was protested because it did not open its doors to people who

were under harsh police attack and barely breathe. On the other hand, Divan Otel, next to Gezi, gave

full support to the protesters and even did not let police to enter into the lobby.

While local media were mute international press like BBC, Le Monde, CNN International and

Reuters made Gezi protests top news. Common discourse was harsh moves of police forces to

peaceful protesters. Interestingly enough the military barracks nearby Gezi and military hospital

nearby Taksim Square helped protesters. Some soldiers gave gas masks to protesters. Later police

forces tried to ban their help but colonels did not let them interfere military’s decisions, which is

exclusive.

Then it was announced that the objections of Taksim Gezi Platform months before for Gezi

construction to the Administrative Court resulted positively for the favor of stopping construction in

Gezi.

Since protests took place in Taksim area, which was in the European side, protesters in the Asian

side could not find a way to join protests other than summoning to Kadıköy Square. Then some people

before sunset marched to the European side via Bosporus Bridge. Cars on the bridge supported them

with horns.

Meantime police demanded extra forces from other cities. Prime Minister Erdoğan stated that Gezi

Park events are Ideological. Resistance and police violence persisted in Taksim area and Gezi until 1st

of June. On 1st of June police evacuated Gezi and Taksim area. However during evacuation they used

force against people who were trying to reach Taksim from Besiktas.

When it comes to 2nd of June Taksim Area was emptied from police and full of passive protesters.

They started to clean Gezi and Taksim from tear gas cartridges and the dirt of fights between police

and protesters. Even Madonna tweeted about the protests. On 2nd of June football fans out of Istanbul

especially from Izmir and Trabzon arrived Istanbul. The whole Gezi protests became a move against

brutal police violence and prime mister, who did not only ignore the voice of the protesters also made

speeches that climbed the anger. Throughout this period, protesters out of Taksim continued to be

pressed under police force, which was excessive tear gas and coercive water from TOMA’s. Doctors

or medical students rushed to the streets to give voluntary help to thousands of injured protesters.

These people including any level of medical staff like nurses, doctors, medical students, and

pharmacies, get together in appropriate places that are safe from tear gas and available to take care of

injuries. These places are made infirmaries. One of these places was a mosque in Besiktas that many

injured were carried and found first aid thanks to the medical crowd that were organized via social

media. In the meantime, Ankara Eskişehir, Adana, Antalya and Izmir cities witnessed big protests and

police violence in return. There were rumors about AKP (Ruling Party of PM Erdoğan) youth wing’s

participation of the police force. At the end of the day non-official shares via Facebook stated that

there were thousands of injured and also deaths. Some people got blind because of the tear gas

cartridges that were directly targeted to individuals rather than 45 degree angle.

On 3rd of June, hundereds of thousands, may be millions were at Taksim. Barricades were made in

case of returning of police forces. However resistance continued everywhere out of Taksim. There

were injuries.

Injuries forced people to wear helmets and gas masks. Some salesmen saw this opportunity and sold

helmets and gas masks on the streets. However later these helmets helped police arresting people even

if they were used to avoid injuries come from tear gas cartridges coming from the police itself.

Resistance was taken out of Taksim. While Taksim turned into a pacifist protest area without police

and Gezi Park to a commune that protests put tents and thousands share food, pillow, and sleeping

bags, resistance continued in Besiktas nearby Taksim. Football fans in Besiktaş resisted to police

under the name of a fan group Çarşı. Çaşı fans captured a digger from the construction area of İnönü

stadium and fought against coercive water vehicle TOMA against police

Stock exchange in Istanbul lost points. Hundreds of thousands that did not protest on the streets

made their voices heard by making noises with pots and pans. Despite the drop of stock exchange PM

Erdoğan continued his tough stand and before his flight to Fez he stated that pots and pans are the

same repetition of a melody… I hardly keep 50% in their homes (He believed that he keep 50% of the

society, who voted for him, at their homes). This speech started the arguments about the democracy to

be realized only via voting or during the ruling period. President Gül made his point by stating that

democracy is not election only and peaceful messages have been taken…9

9 http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/23424869.asp

Starting from 4th of June protests spread faster to out of the streets. Public figures tried to make

their own protests on television. For example, İhsan Varol, the host of a word competition asked

questions related to Gezi Events at that night.

Such protests grew enormously among every level of the society from TV shows to sports. If these

people could not support their own jobs they resign like Mehmet Turgut, a famous photographer,

resigned from the TV channel he Works. With the ongoing ignorance of the local press to these major

events was going to cause either more resigns or drop outs.

In the meantime thousands were settled in Gezi Park. How they were fed is reflected in the meal

order websites. There were thousands of orders made out of the city addressed to Gezi Park.

Neighboring hotels also gave food to the protesters. In the Bar of Istanbul lawyers that protested the

Gezi events in Çağlayan Courthouse were arrested with a brutal manner. This took more protests even

from the least politicized levels. 600 Antalya Bar member lawyers protested the arrest of Istanbul Bar

and walked to Cumhuriyet Square, where masses joined them.

On 5th of June, support increased to protesters from every level of society. Housewives were

protesting with pans and pots and public figures like actresses and actors rushed to Gezi Park. 5th of

June was a holy day for Muslims. No violence happened that day. Protesters offered cookies to police,

and crowd prayed in Taksim unlike the expectations of the conservatives, who thought protesters

didn’t have respect.

Dictator Tear Gas

On that day Noam Chomsky announced his support to the protesters, who have already been

labelled to be looters (Çapulcu in Turkish) by the Prime Minister. Looter (Çapulcu) word became a

symbol for people who protest. Finally vice Prime Minister Arınç welcomed Taksim Platform (an

NGO) members to Prime Ministry building to hear their claims, which were:

- Gezi Park shall stay at a park like now and agreements to be made about its persistence as a

park.

- Atatürk Centre of Culture demolition will stop immediately.

- Removal of the local governing forces those are responsible for the deaths, injuries and arrests

of thousands during the protests, which was the natural right of the citizens.

- To ban on the usage of tear gas and materials like that

- To release of the citizens arrested all over the country because they support the resistance.

- To stop violence against the protest take place on the major squares and public places in the

whole country like Taksim Square and Kızılay Square, where also May Day celebrations take

place.

- To Abolish the bans against Right of Expression

Thousands of union members marched to Taksim in Istanbul and Kızılay in Ankara.

Throughout the resistance at Gezi Park lots and lots of cultural and arts events took place that could be

found in the ‘humor’ section.

On 6th of June, University of New York announced that 1.8 million tweets were exchanged during

the protests.

A police officer chasing protesters slipped from a bridge and passed away. This took attention and

sadness of both police and protesters together. Stock exchange continued to lose points. In the

meantime, about 2500 academic staff of the universities marched to Taksim square to protest Gezi

Events.

While fans of football teams Beşiktaş, Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray were marching to Taksim with

torches, in Ankara police were intervening to protests at Kızılay and Kuğulu parks with tear gas.

On 9th of June Governor of Taksim made milder speeches to protesters on Tweeter like ‘ I made a

thousand apologies for just a heart’.

Protests in Gezi and Taksim became a place for all political views. Many different political parties

took place in Gezi. Kurdist nationalist party BDP also supported the protests by the high number of

people. When they opened their Kurdish flag with the pictures of their leader Abdullah Öcalan they

could have triggered some events. However this never happened. This is a sign of depolarization and a

pacifist nature of Gezi resistance.

On the 10th of June PM Erdoğan threatened the crowd by his words of ‘if you continue to resist,

we will respond to you with the language you understand’. Then, on the same day, PM Erdoğan stated

that : the Mosque that protesters entered to find medical help was abused by protesters from entering

with the shoes (it is forbidden to enter mosques with shoes on), and also by drinking beer. However

evidence of drinking beer was not found, entering with the shoes were never problem because

coverage were put on the carpets. Even if it did it should have been more than ok to heal people and

give first aid into the mosque. This argument climbed further and the cleric responsible for the

Mosque had a lot of trouble with the government because he said he did not see anyone drinking beer.

Following days saw events like targeting M.Ali Alabora, well known actor, to drag people to resist

by the theatres he did. M.Ali Alabora stated that some newspapers showed him a target for Gezi

protests and he stated he doesn’t feel secure about his right to live.

Then comes the evidence recordings of the deaths in Gezi events. Everybody was waiting for the

killers to be the gas bomb cartridges like it happened to a Palestinian tourist in Taksim, who was still

in coma because of the tear gas cartridge shot to her head. However it was different. Ethem Sarısülük

was killed by a bullet came from a police officer. This was stabilized by the video recordings spread

just after he was shot with a real bullet.

Throughout this week Taksim and Gezi were Police free because no order came from the ruling

authorities and also thanks to barricades built by many different organizations came from different

views.

On 11th of June peaceful environment was ended by the police that attempted to enter to police-free

Taksim square. Intervention was to take the posters down and eliminate the Gezi tents and kiosks.

Only Turkish flag was left to be shown on the protests. However, Turkish flag with national leader

Atatürk’s poster was already been stated to be the evil symbol of the Gezi resistance. Governor stated

that Gezi was going to be untouched. However, police forces intervened in Gezi despite the children

who enjoy the park.

On the other hand, court in Ankara announced jurisdiction that protests are a natural right of

citizens. Therefore no sentence was given to protesters who were arrested throughout this time10

. This

followed by the declaration of Ban Ki Mun saying AKP government should be calm11

.

Throughout the resistance local TV channels were seized to make real news. On 12th of June, only

channels that broadcast what happened in the area of Taksim were: Halk TV, Ulusal Kanal, Cem Tv

and EM TV. However these channels were given sentences of hundred thousands of Money to act

against the rules of broadcasting. Lastly, more responses came from other cities like Izmir to the arrest

of the lawyers that support Gezi resistance. The surprise of the day was the mini concert of famous

pianist David Martello’s mini concert at Taksim square.

10

http://www.dunyabulteni.net/?aType=haber&ArticleID=263339 11

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/un-secretary-general-urges-calm-and-dialogue-in-turkey-protests.aspx?pageID=238&nid=48648

On 13th of June a famous actor Necati Şaşmaz talked to PM Erdoğan. However Şaşmaz could not

manage to deliver any message that Gezi supporters could understand. The same day mothers of the

teenage protesters came to Taksim and Gezi Park and support their children by making up a Chain of

Mothers’.

On 14th of June, the Ministry of Health announced that doctors and staff that helped protesters

were under examination. The same day it was announced that Ethem Sarısülük, who was shot by the

police with a real bullet, passed away in the hospital. At that moment Municipal of Ankara Melih

Gokcek put posters on the Ankara Kuğulu Park that thank police forces for their efforts.

There were 8 dogs, 63 cats and 1,028 birds were killed by gas during Gezi Events.

On 15th of June the Governor of Istanbul decided to put all placards away from Taksim. On 16th

of June PM Erdoğan announced that the AKP party had a meeting in Istanbul and if protesters would

not go away the security forces would know what they would do. Then the Taksim area was starting to

be evacuated with police forces. Majority resisted. Especially the ones that were affected by gas seek

shelter in Divan Hotel, which was located nearby Gezi Park and always helped protestors. This time

German Politician Claduis Roth was staying in Divan Hotel and witnessed the brutal violence of the

police. The next day Ethem’s funeral ceremony was stopped by the police with tear gas and without

any warning. If there would be a warning people would not go away from the funeral ceremony.

Police forces would know this. In the meantime police investigated about Besikaş football team fans

under the name of Çarşı. They put some Çarşı members into jail. Police came back with violence and

intervened to march of unions.

Later on 17th of June, police took Gezi Park over. They never let any civilian to enter Gezi Park.

This time police were standing on the places where barricades were built. On the same day Erdem

Gündüz, an actor in a city theatre started a passive rebellion by just standing. His move of standing 8

hours shakes social media.

On the 18th of June police continued to occupy Gezi. Crown in Taksim Park went to homes.

Ramadan month was coming. After a few days police re-evacuated Gezi and left it to be a park…

What is it now?

Gezi events show that people in Turkey first want to make their voices higher and to

remind the ruling party that democracy is not just voting and also it is not only serving for the

citizens who voted for the ruling party.

On the other hand, a portion of society is nor only supporters of liberalization in the economy

but also liberalization in every level of the social life. A ban on lifestyles like abortion,

alcohol and rushes to ‘Shopping Mall’isation of the cultural symbols triggered people to get

together and raise their voices.

Gezi events after Ramadan lost its pace. However, the spirit stayed. Many small passive

protest events happened since Gezi Resistance.

One example is the ‘Rainbow Stairs’. A Karaköy(District in Istanbul) inhabitant painted the

long stairs in his neighborhood in the colors of the rainbow. This has been welcomed by gay

organizations like LGBT(Gay rights NGO). However municipality painted the stairs back to

gray. Hüseyin Çetineş, the inhabitant who painted the stairs stated that he did this to make

people smile. Then support came from many different places in and out of Istanbul.

Especially when Turkey is on the bulk of supporting a war in Syria. War is not something

people would support and PM Erdoğan is seeking for the ways to support the war without

consent of the citizens.

Finally Istanbul lost Olympic game tender. This is believed to be the harsh authoritarian face

of the government. Gezi Park resistence reminded that many things are not going well in

Istanbul enough to host the games. This also includes the casualties during the resistance and

one in the hospital who is a child that was going to market to but bread and shot with a gas

bomb cartridge from the head.

Some Facts

Some research companies made research on Gezi Resistance. According to researches12

:

- 24% of the population support Gezi Resistance

- 6.8% gives partial support

- 52.5% don’t support Gezi.

- 61% think protests are legal

- 58% who joined protesters stated they protest because they feel their independence is

limited

- According to Bloomberg Magazine revenue of Shopping malls decreased by 30%.

12

http://www.dunya.com/gezi-parki-arastirmalari-ne-soyluyor-152314yy.htm

Losses of Gezi Resistance

- 30.3% of the protesters stated that they are pğroptesting against PM Erdoğan’s

speeches and attitudes

- 22 journalists were fired and 37 were forced resignation.13

- About 2.5 million people were thought to physically join the protests14

.

- Around 5 protesters died, 11 protesters lost their sight, 7,832 injured with 60 of them

was serious15

.

13

http://www.bbc.co.uk/turkce/haberler/2013/08/130803_hollanda_gezi.shtml 14

http://gundem.milliyet.com.tr/2-5-milyon-insan-79-ilde-sokaga/gundem/detay/1726600/default.htm 15

http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/23556728.asp