Berkin Elvan was not a looter. He was not even a protestor. He was – and continues to be – a victim. Fourteen years old at the time, Berkin went out to get bread for his family during the Gezi protests, then he was was hit by a gas canister fired by police. As Amnesty’s report on the Gezi Protests describes: Between [...] → Read the full article…
The first cracks in Mr. Erdogan’s aura of invincibility came in the summer, with violent street protests against yet another mall that was to replace a popular Istanbul park. Mr. Erdogan emerged from that with his image tarnished but his power seemingly intact. But he was jolted once again in December by a sweeping corruption inquiry aimed at his inner circle. [...] → Read the full article…
The families of those who lost their lives in the police crackdowns during the Gezi Park protests and those who were injured during the protests announced the establishment of a shared association on Jan. 21. The “Gezi Martyrs and Wounded Platform” was formally established following a meeting at the Istanbul Bar Association. The attendance of the elder brother of Mehmet [...] → Read the full article…
Emerging from a long history of resistance to the AKP’s spatial politics, Gezi made it possible to imagine a more egalitarian and democratic way of life. On December 17, 2013, Turkey woke up to another morning of dawn operations involving raids, home and office searches, and arrests that have become a routine in the legal and political landscape of the [...] → Read the full article…
It’s worth remembering that Erdogan’s mystique first showed cracks over his virulent reaction to the Gezi Park protests. That too was about huge building projects. There’s something about construction that seems to matter a lot to Erdogan’s grip on power. The fact is, no other industry does the same job that banks do of dispersing money throughout the economy, while [...] → Read the full article…
The Gezi Park events marked a turning point in the global unrest we’re living through. Though not officially a Bric country, Turkey has most of the attributes of one – high growth, a young population, a repressive state prone to corruption and arbitrary action. So after Gezi it was no surprise to see Brazil’s protest movement spiral into a million people on the [...] → Read the full article…
Another major worry for Mr. Erdogan now is that anger with his administration will spread to the streets, as it did in the summer with the violent suppression of demonstrators trying to protect a beloved Istanbul park from development. On Wednesday night sporadic protests erupted in some neighborhoods of Istanbul and other cities, with people calling on the government to [...] → Read the full article…