What happened at the hospital?
It turned out that my arm was broken and had to be operated. And the following day, I was discharged. The following week I returned to the hospital for an examination and changing the dressing of my arm. The hospital employees wanted to look at my ID card. When they realized that this was about a judicial case they started to change my mind by psychological pressure. All of them were mobilized; they kept asking questions about the legal case. Even if I didn’t express openly, because it was written in the report that I had been wounded by pepper gas capsule, it was clear who the offender was. We know that the police opened files on many people at the hospitals. And I believe that many people went through similar things as I did.
Do you notice any difference with people’s attitude when they see you with a plastered arm?
At the public transportation vehicles, people ask, “Did that happen during the protests?” And I try to tell them what I have gone through as much as I could because it is important to denounce the police violence. Since, people in general have a negative assessment of police, they say, “God damn you, the police!”. The minibus stop that I use frequently is near the Güvenpark which is under the police blockade. I often am subject to hostile looks by the policemen. My family and the people in my close circle are aware of the fact that I was a victim of a great injustice.
If you had been injured in another kind of protest, would your family and friends have supported you in the same way?
People who call me to wish me swift recovery are either the people on the streets or they have children or relatives on the streets. In the past, the protests were generally oriented to one single issue and realized by small groups. Just before the outbreak of the Gezi movement, we wanted to realize a protest march and were confronted by the police brutality. On that day, a tear gas bomb hit one of our friends’ head and another friend was beaten by the police. If I had been injured in those previous protests, there wouldn’t been as many people who had supported me now…
After the first days of mass protests, how did the events unfold in Ankara?
Every protest march was repelled by the police attacks. They even brutally repressed the legal meeting organized by the unions and authorized by the Ankara governor. They even attacked Ethem Sarısülük’s funeral procession. While the Gezi protestors were playing games in the park, the people of Ankara were playing dodge-ball with pepper gas bombs. We lived every day what the Gezi protestors went through during the heaviest police interventions.
During these events, how was a typical day like in Ankara?
The police attacked for days on an end to the people who gathered together in Kennedy Street every day after 10 P.M. During the police intervention, there were power blackouts in Tunalı Hilmi Street and its surroundings. For the last few days, the police attacks continue in Dikmen Street.
What do you think about the conditions of the national and international press members during the protests and police interventions?
Even while Erdoğan was in a meeting with the people who were said to represent the Gezi Park movement, the police brutality continued in Kennedy Street and nobody talked about it. Though, it is clear that the government or the police didn’t pay any attention to the international media. The police assaulted and arrested the international press members just as they do in general with the national press members.
Barış Barışık, a student Ankara University, who was fired directly at and hit by the pepper gas capsule during the ODTÜ protest on 18 December 2012, was one of the first victim of this new method. Hasn’t Barışık’s story been told to the public clearly enough? Why do you think the police continue to use this method?
We tried various ways to tell what happened on the 18th of December, but due to the AKP-partisan media’s disinformation, the public opinion has retained only the explanations such as, “Barış was wounded by a stone thrown by one of his friends”, or “He is a student of Ankara University; so, what was he doing in ODTÜ? He must be a provocateur.” These partisan media alleged that the students in ODTÜ used Molotov cocktails. This insensitive and intentional misinformation covered up the police terror.
After the Gezi Park protests, do you think the people of Ankara have changed their views about the police violence and the necessity of acts of protest?
Before the Gezi protests and its aftermath, people looking at the protests from outside would say, “Okay, the police attack you but why do you cover your face?” These recent events have demonstrated why one should cover one’s mouth and nose. People now go out with scarves, medical or dust masks because you can never know when and how the police attack. Therefore, the legitimacy of using these kinds of means has become evident. This legitimacy will determine future democratic struggles.
As for the police violence… While I was walking in the Güvenpark with my friends, I heard a boy saying to his friend, “I’d never like to become a policeman; I’d rather sell the bagels in the street.” Here’s people’s reaction to the police violence. Ankara is a city where there is a state institution or a public building in every other street. Therefore, the Ankara police’s attitude towards the protests is very different from other cities’ police. Furthermore, we don’t know who the Ankara governor or the chief of police is. All the police department in Ankara is commanded by the Ministry of Interior, that is to say, by the Prime Minister himself.
Utku Yağan
27 June 2013
Source: http://www.siddethikayeleri.com/
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