June 26, 2013
As consulting group for counter terrorism and security, we decided to make first-hand observations and attend the current demonstrations in Turkey, which started on May 31 with the protest at Gezi Park in Istanbul. The situation was tense: As international news portals reported, police had cleared Taksim Square once again with tear gas and water cannons, and Prime Minister Erdogan had threatened to treat anyone entering Gezi Park as a terrorist.
Streets leading to the Square had been closed off by governmental road blocks or were only possible to drive through from one direction due to road spikes. Police were stationed at every corner, there were no visible signs of protest: no posters, no barricades, hardly any people. The anti-governmental graffiti were already being censored by AKP supporters and the only ones wandering across the otherwise empty Square were curiosity-driven tourists, exhausted policemen and busy city workers tidying up the debris.
The atmosphere during our first day was subdued, and we were curious of what was going to happen next. The predominantly young police force looked anything but ready for action, mostly sitting under the trees or leaning against walls looking for any patch of shade, worn down by exhaustion and heat, and there were no protesters in sight. But once people got off work, the Square began to fill itself again. Many people wore gas masks or surgical masks and helmets and the crowd made their way through the narrow side streets to the cordoned off center of Taksim, fulfilling their “after-work citizens’ duty” as protesters. After one short cat and mouse game with the police forces that were entering the aforementioned streets, a small group of protesters assembled near the Square, where they created a festive atmosphere for the evening. During the night, they were dispersed by the police once again.
The next morning, Taksim looked even quieter than before and the protest seemed to have died down completely. However, the 2am arrest of a single man who had started a silent, standing protest and the spreading of this news via social media led others to follow his example. By mid-morning, the Square was occupied by a growing number of silent, standing people, no longer wearing masks or helmets. It was an eerie, though peaceful and moreover powerful picture, demonstrating the people of Taksim’s will to continue against all odds and with whatever means they have. The silent protest is still ongoing.
Friends living in Cihangir (10 min walk from Taksim) told us that especially the tear gas had affected the whole district and not just the immediate vicinity of Taksim Square. Police fired into hospitals and shot into metro stations and closed the exits, as the gas travelled through the tunnels to the other stops, making sure no one escaped. One night they couldn’t return home with their two months old baby because tear gas was everywhere.
The effect this had on the population was quite startling. On the one hand, previously uninvolved citizens now also became opinionated – either sympathizing with the protesters or cursing them for bringing Erdogan’s over-reaction upon them, too. On the other hand, formerly unreconcilable groups like the rivaling football clubs of Istanbul, who had beaten each other up just weeks before, now stood together as one: Wearing the opposite club’s scarf and designing a combined logo of all three. For the Turkish Prime Minister, this was adding insult to injury.
The outcome of the countrywide protest in Turkey is still undecided and Erdogan’s political future is slowly being questioned. The uprising also attracted way more international attention than anyone could have first anticipated – when only a small group of people started to fight for one of the few green stretches in Istanbul. As always, it is the seemingly insignificant steps that lead to the biggest changes and what occurs in Turkey further consolidates this decade’s reputation as one of great changes.
View more:
http://www.spiegel.tv/filme/vice-istanbul-rising/