Mesut Sener recalls the attempted bulldozing of Gezi Park 12 months ago as if it was yesterday.
“The construction machines arrived in the morning; they began cutting six, seven trees. We tried to defend them by linking arms around the trees,” said the 46-year-old civil engineer. “By the first night, lots of people started coming to the park – two, three thousand. We won the park,” he said.
But their victory was short-lived.
The protestors were swiftly tear-gassed, their tents burned down and many were arrested. The police crackdown drew hundreds of thousands of Turks to Gezi Park in the days and weeks that followed in what became the biggest outpouring of anti-government sentiment witnessed in Turkey for more than a decade.
From a café on Istiklal Street in Istanbul, ground zero for protests for much of the past year, Sener, who spent the first 16 days and nights in the park, says he had no idea the efforts of a few dozen environmentalists a year ago would spark a year of unrest that shows little sign of relenting.
“Gezi Park showed us the potential of protests,” he said.
Authoritarian government Since then, the AK Party-led government has turned increasingly authoritarian, blocking popular websites Twitter and YouTube, firing thousands of police and judges and arresting almost 5,000 demonstrators. At least six people, including a 14-year-old boy, have died in protest-related incidents involving riot police.
Turkey’s reaction to the anti-government demonstrations has drawn condemnation from international leaders and heads of state. On Sunday, the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muiznieks, criticised the police crackdown. “Misconduct of law enforcement officials poses a direct threat to the rule of law and cannot be tolerated,” he said.
The movement ignited by Sener and others on May 27th last year brought front and centre a long-standing distrust and anger with Turkey’s government felt by sections of the public, a feeling that has been amplified by the government’s continued defiance in the face of any and all criticism. The deaths of two protestors in an Istanbul neighbourhood last month have added to the tension.
But the AK Party has come through local elections in March, seen as a referendum on its rule, rather unscathed. Its Islamist discourse has resonated with the millions of Turks in conservative regions of central and western Turkey, as well as districts of major cities such as Istanbul. The country’s gross domestic product per capita has more than doubled over the past decade while poverty figures have fallen 7.5 per cent in that time.
Summer of protests Some say prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his backers don't see the protests as a serious threat to his continued influence in Turkish politics. Another summer of protests is expected with presidential elections taking place this August, which will see a president elected directly by the public for the first time. But, unlike a year ago, today
the effectiveness of mass demonstrations is being questioned.
“Last year, Erdogan learned a lesson: don’t allow space such as a big squares be taken over by protestors,” said Turkish journalist Abdullah Ayasun. “He has no intention to allow major gatherings in public spaces in the coming months.”
Thousands of riot police were strategically deployed to prevent demonstrators from occupying Taksim Square and adjacent Gezi Park at major public gatherings, such as during the May Day gatherings this year. Last weekend’s protests were expected to re-energise the country’s protest movement but, with demonstrators unable to gather in large numbers, they largely passed off without incident.
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Last week, new arrest orders were issued for 46 suspects involved in last summer’s protests and a total of 255 demonstrators are being tried.
Prosecutors in the southern province of Antalya have sought 98-year prison sentences for five people in charges that include membership of a terrorist organisation and resisting law enforcement officers. The first hearing is to be held on June 12th. According to Sener, many of his friends face criminal charges emanating from their participation in demonstrations.
“I am neither afraid of police prosecution nor of judicial measures. I am not feeling threatened and I am not worried in participating in demonstrations or protests,” said Cengiz, a defiant 45-year-old sociologist who was also in Gezi Park from the first day. He says events at Gezi Park were a turning point: “People will stand up for their political demands and their democratic rights. This will not disappear.”
The fact that about 25,000 riot police were deployed on to central Istanbul’s streets as demonstrators attempted to mark the first anniversary of the protests last weekend angered many Turks traditionally accustomed to unhindered access to public spaces. Such heavy-handedness has fuelled much defiance.
“Gezi Park made everyone connected,” said Sener. “Now I’m aware of something bigger than the government exists. More and more people are protesting. That gives me hope.”
