By Dr Mustafa Ozbilgin
The Justice and Development Party (AKP) government has launched various urban development projects across Istanbul. These plans lacked prior consultation with public users and key stakeholders. Remarkably, the AKP government planned to build a shopping mall on the site of Gezi Park, the only public green space with many established trees, shrubs and sitting areas and cafes in Taksim district in Istanbul. A group of environmentalists and concerned locals, mainly young people, launched a peaceful demonstration in Gezi Park in protest of the planned construction. Four days ago, these peaceful demonstrations halted as the police used pepper spray and brute force against this group. The police brutality was photographed, recorded, and shared in social media such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram across Turkey, causing public outrage concerning police brutality against peaceful protesters.
The AKP government went on to gag the Turkish press, and none of the main TV channels covered the protests. However, disinformation and silencing the press have not prevented photographs of police violence to be widely disseminated. Public outrage grew, and people from all walks of life started joining the protest. The violence remained unidirectional; police continued to brutalise peaceful protesters who refused to respond in same.
Despite appeals by all segments of society to the AKP government’s leadership, there was no remedial response. In fact Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made several TV appearances in which he gave inflammatory speeches calling protesters “a bunch of riff raff, and alcoholics”, threatening them with unleashing his supporters on them. His cabinet members made no attempt at calming the situation and ending the police violence. Consequently, the protest spread to other cities in Turkey and police abuses escalated into atrocities across the country.
There is neither a leader nor a common ideology among protesters in Turkey. However, there is a spirit of “enough is enough” against the tyranny and the straightjacket of a regime which asserted a very narrow perspective of Islam to regulate social life in Turkey. The indignation of injustice that they are witnessing mobilised many apolitical people in Turkey to take to the streets. The diversity of people on the streets shows that the class, ethnic, religious, age, sexuality, ideological and other divides can be overcome. The opposition parties were unable to capture the spirit of the protest and they remain largely irrelevant to the protests.
Remarkably and unlike other protests in Europe and elsewhere, protests are being led by women with nothing but their courage to say “enough is enough” against the brutalism of the regime and its fascist police forces, armed with batons, teargas and rubber bullets. The role of women in the protests was featured in media outlets but deserves additional attention. In fact, the first person to be killed by police brutality was a woman named Aylin. Women have collectively been the main losers of the autocratic regime that allowed violence against women and gender inequalities to exacerbate over the last few years. Honour killings and street violence against women have been allowed to flourish in the absence of protective measures. AKP espoused ultra-conservative and religiously inspired views on female honour and socially acceptable behaviour, including public displays of affection and alcohol consumption.
It comes as no surprise that such totalitarian rule have led the uprising to be supported by people from all walks in life, including those on both ends of the political spectrum, different ethnic groups in Turkey, every age group as well as LGBT groups. Supporters of the three main football clubs were particularly instrumental in gaining control of Gezi Park, which led to a surge in protesters hitting the streets. People at home are joining the protest by beating their pots and pans, and turning out their lights. Examples of public solidarity are also flooding social media.
Police violence against protesters is escalating by the day despite recent announcements that police will be withdrawn. There are reports of deaths and severe injuries across Turkey. Many international agencies have condemned the excessive and brutal use of police force against peaceful protesters in Turkey.
Although the initial protest was about the park, the unyielding response of the prime minister has not helped in calming tensions and outrage among the public in Turkey. There are emergent demands for Erdogan’s resignation, as public trust in his leadership is apparently irreversibly damaged.
Dr Mustafa Özbilgin holds professorships at Brunel University in London, Université Paris-Dauphine and Koç University in Istanbul. He is the Editor in Chief of the British Journal of Management.
