“I haven’t seen Istanbul or Taksim. But until Taksim is free there’s no going back home,” she said. We said our farewells when the riot police began moving and parted ways.
Ankara is up and awake. Kızılay, Tunalı… It is like the end of the world.
Every street corner, every turn, every street, every square… The skies of Ankara are rumbling with the slogan: “Everywhere is Taksim, everywhere is resistance!”
First Kızılay, then Kuğulu, and today I am at a rally in Çankaya.
When we were in Kızılay, a woman hopped out of a shuttle bus and came over to us. She said, “These feet do not want to go back home, sister!” She just threw herself out of the bus when she saw the police crowd. Out of her bag she took a gas mask, a whistle, a bottle of vinegar, and a blue helmet. She said that she’d bought them from OSTIM. “I paid 5 lira. I bought many to deliver them to kids. This is so crucial. It is a lifesaver.” She is a nurse. Her kid was waiting for her at home but she couldn’t take herself off the streets. When the water cannon came toward us, we all hollered in unison: “Everywhere is Taksim, everywhere is resistance!”
When things got quiet she said to me, “I haven’t seen Istanbul or Taksim. But until Taksim is free there’s no going back home.” We said our farewells when the riot police began moving and parted ways.
Earlier that evening, before she had uttered her first words to me as “sister” and met my nurse friend, I had been walking to Güvenpark to sit down and drink coffee where Ankara Solidarity would make a press release for the support of GeziPark. Two girls near me were chatting away. One of them said, “I’m gonna go out shopping. I want to go to the Ankara Market but I can’t. These guys are inhibiting my freedom.” By looking at their style the possibility did not even pass my mind, but I was keeping my hopes up. I guessed they meant ‘cops’ by ‘these.’ Of course it was the other way around. It became clearer when the conversation went further and I realized they were bothered by the protestors.
I had no energy left, I couldn’t even move my fingers. I had decided not to get angry over nothing when the other girl spoke in a flippant manner: “How many of these guys have seen GeziPark anyway, and now here they are howling away.” On top of that, when she kept talking with the TV-simulated grin, I couldn’t hold myself anymore and told them, “I am one of those guys you are talking about. I can’t tell who saw where or what. But obviously you can’t even see what’s happening around your nose. If your freedom got restricted maybe it is because of the police who attack people for no reason at all… Look at them, they’re all ready to attack at any moment, they’re drooling to spray us with the water cannon or gas us out. Let me tell you this to appease your curiosity. I have been on the Ankara streets until 2 A.M. every night for one week on end. Yesterday I was at the GeziPark, today I came to this rally here. I’d sit down to take a rest but thanks to you I realize that it is no time to rest. Bye now, I am going to the rally. You guys keep watching.” Then I got up to leave.
Who knows, maybe these girls had been watching water cannons ready to attack on Ataturk Boulevard on CNN. They’d probably been disturbed by all the din of people clanging pots and pans and hollering slogans, saying “Taksim, I’d die for you!” and deprived of their sleep.
It is the 12th of June now. Barricades have been made. While I write this article, a little while ago a water cannon vehicle attacked thousands who gathered along Ataturk Boulevard to show their support for Taksim. Gas bombs once again turned the streets into a war zone.
My nurse sister whose feet would not let her go back home! Right now I will kiss you on your eyes.
She’s right after all. Homes make you feel depressed.
Füsun Çiçekoğlu
Excerpt from www.bianet.org
12 June 2013
This post is also available in: Turkish