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On being part of #OccupyGezi

by | Jun 13, 2013 | Turkey | 5 comments

After enthusiastically planning a first-time trip to Turkey for months, my boyfriend Joe and I arrived in Istanbul two weeks ago and immersed ourselves in this amazing city. On our second day there, we unwittingly became part of the protests against the building of a shopping mall in Gezi Park when we were strolling down Istiklal, Istanbul’s main shopping street, towards Taksim Square. Peaceful marchers were quickly dispersed by police rolling in on casspirs firing water cannons and tear gas.

#occupygezi protest on Istiklal Street, Istanbul

We escaped up to a fourth-floor bar overlooking the street and watched, our eyes and faces burning, as crowds ran in all directions to get away from the tear gas. We had no idea what was going on, and only found out through asking people what the protest was about, as there was a media blackout in Turkey and no local channels were covering anything to do with the protests.

#occupygezi protest on Istiklal Street, Istanbul

Within hours, the #OccupyGezi hashtag was trending worldwide, and protestors were using social media to mobilise people to join the protests and organise things like drop off points for gas masks. We did our bit to publicise what was going on by sharing our photos on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

From what we could see, and from what people told us, the protests were entirely peaceful until the police decided to get violent. That night of Friday 31 May, the police blocked people in Taksim Square and down Istiklal all night. The next morning things seemed calmer, but the street bore the signs of a riot – shop windows were shattered by tear gas canisters, graffiti had been sprayed everywhere, rubble was strewn across the street and ATMs had been vandalised.

#Occupygezi protest, Istanbul

#Occupygezi protest, Istanbul

#occupygezi protest on Istiklal Street, Istanbul

#Occupygezi protest, Istanbul

#Occupygezi protest, Istanbul

#occupygezi protest on Istiklal Street, Istanbul

Everyone we spoke to was in full support of the protests. Some said that they had been waiting 10 years for this. The prime minister, Erdogan, had been acting like a dictator – deciding to do things (like build a shopping mall on one of Istanbul’s last green spaces) without consulting people. Most Turkish people we met were moderate Muslims who are worried that Erdogan was implementing more Islamic laws to change Turkey into a more religious state. From what we can gather, people have been unhappy with Erdogan’s leadership for some time, and this was the tipping point.

A day later, the police had completely withdrawn from Taksim Square and peaceful protestors had taken over. We walked up Istilklal with crowds of all ages singing, whistling and clapping with images of Attaturk everywhere and every second person waving a Turkish flag. The mood was jubilant – it felt like a festival, or the end of a football match, when the local team has scored an exciting victory. Loads of people had plastic bags and gloves and were cleaning up the mess in the streets.

#Occupygezi protest, Istanbul

#Occupygezi protest, Istanbul

#Occupygezi protest, Istanbul

Taksim Square was full of thousands of people carrying slogans, wearing Anonymous masks, selling streetfood, eating streetfood, taking photos, tweeting and singing. It was amazing to be part of what felt like a unified community, and to share our photos of the peacefulness of this scene via social media to friends back home who thought we were about to be killed by violent rioters from what they’d seen on the news.

#occupygezi protest on Istiklal Street, Istanbul

#occupygezi protest on Istiklal Street, Istanbul

#occupygezi protest in Taksim Square, Istanbul

#occupygezi protest in Taksim Square, Istanbul

#Occupygezi protest, Istanbul

#occupygezi protest in Taksim Square, Istanbul

#Occupygezi protest, Istanbul

#Occupygezi protest, Istanbul

We left Istanbul the day afterwards to travel around Turkey, and returned on Tuesday 11 June, when people had been occupying Taksim for almost two weeks. As we arrived back in the city from the coast, riot police were pouring into Taksim again with the orders of getting everyone out. We saw black clouds of smoke billowing into the sky from Taksim as we crawled through traffic in the airport shuttle bus, finding out through Twitter what was happening. We had a few hours to kill before our flight home, and left our bags in the guesthouse near Istiklal that we’d stayed at before. Right when we needed to fetch our bags before going to the airport, the riot police started confronting protestors in Istiklal, moving out of Taksim. We had to head in the opposite direction of people who were trying to get away from the tear gas. Using our last money to buy face masks, we ran through an almost-deserted Istiklal with faces burning, not knowing where the police were. Our eyes and faces were sprayed by people carrying a milky-white antacid solution in bottles. We managed to get our bags and get a taxi to the airport. That night, the police launched massive tear gas attacks on the square. Having felt the painful burn of teargas after it was fired pretty far away, I can only imagine how bad it must have been for the protestors who remained in the square. At this point, protestors are still in the square and the prime minister has vowed to get them out in the next day.

While we can’t exactly call ourselves protestors, and don’t know much about Turkish politics, it felt right to be part of this in some small way – to share our experiences on social media and contribute a few more tweets to the millions already on the #occupygezi hashtag. Already so many good things have come of the protests – especially the fact that the whole world is watching Erdogan’s every move now – and I hope that some real change can take place. It was an uplifting, inspiring thing to see so many different people come together and protest for democracy, political freedom and to begin with, saving a park.

 

Thinking of cancelling your trip to Turkey?

We heard of people cancelling their holidays in the country because they were afraid of the violence of the protests. The protests are widespread across the country in different cities but from my personal experience I would say that it’s absolutely fine to visit Turkey – just steer clear of the areas where people are protesting to avoid clashes with the police.

 

5 Comments

  1. Angela

    A great write up. It must have been really scary at times. And beautiful pictures.

    Reply
    • Sarah Duff

      Thanks Angela. I must admit that I felt pretty scared on the last evening when the street had cleared out because of the tear gas and we had no idea where the police were. We never felt scared of the protestors though – only of the unpredictable violence of the police.

      Reply
  2. jezebel

    is it also absolutely fine for visitors join to the protest?

    Reply
    • Sarah Duff

      We joined when the police weren’t around and felt completely safe – as I said in my post, it felt great to be part of a community of people coming together to protest peacefully. When things got hairy with the police getting involved we steered clear of the protests as much as we could.

      Reply
  3. Fiona Stuart

    please notify me of new posts by email
    thanks

    Reply

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