What's Happening in Turkey Right Now

There's a chance you haven't heard about it yet, which is astounding considering that a city with a population of 18 million is more or less in chaos. My friends have been keeping me updated on what's happening, so let me give a run-down for those who are new to this situation:

This is how I understand it. The Turkish government plans to take down a park (Gezi Park) near Taksim Square, more or less the center of Istanbul, and transform it into a mall with an Ottoman-style architecture. To offer some form of comparison, imagine if New York City were going to tear down Union Square to build high rises. But this particular park in Istanbul has some historical significance, especially regarding the act of protesting. So now imagine a park as centrally located as New York's Union Square with the historical meaning of People's Park in Berkeley, California. Naturally, there were protests.

The protests were nonviolent. There is no indication that the protestors provoked the police officers, even in the information given by the government. But the police reaction to this first small demonstration was over the top. They raided the park, beat people, and sprayed tear gas.

So the protests grew the next day, taking on a new feeling of speaking out against the police brutality, which continued as the police flew in helicopters (yes, helicopters) into Taksim to spray tear gas, which could be felt across the Golden Horn (that would be like gassing Union Square from helicopters and people in Brooklyn feeling their eyes sting).

Thing is, the police didn't legally have this power a 5 years ago. In the past few years the ruling Turkish party has expanded the powers of the police significantly while edging away power from the other branches of government. For example, when I was teaching in Istanbul there was a special vote that amended the country's constitution to drastically cut back the power of the military - the main secularizing force in modern Turkish history - and the courts (later that year the immensely popular Prime Minister Erdoğan became just the third Turkish prime minister ever to receive an absolute majority of the vote). So all these police actions are completely legal, no matter how despicable.

So now the protests have spread throughout the country and beyond (I've seen photos of people protesting in Canada) taking on the form of a broad outrage against the practices of Erdoğan's government over the past decade, ranging from his power grabs to his arresting of journalists who speak against him to his pushing the Turkish legal code closer to an Islamic code with moral laws, such as the regulations against alcohol and the prohibition of street seating at cafés.

Here are some articles about it in the American press, which is a little reserved about the whole thing: NPR, NYTimes, CNN. Erdoğan is an important ally, after all: a secular Muslim! (although barely) And this is only the first time he has been publicly humiliated on the word front like this. And here's a Turkish blog about the protests that's quite a bit more sensationalist. 

Here's a quote from the NYTimes article that reveals the attitudes of Prime Minister Erdoğan and his aims for control over culture as well as government:

In his remarks, Mr. Erdogan criticized Twitter, which became an important conduit of news — and unfounded rumors — about the demonstrations, which were not covered aggressively in the Turkish news media.

“Now we have a menace that is called Twitter,” he said. “The best examples of lies can be found there. To me, social media is the worst menace to society.” 

 And here's a poem I threw together ion solidarity for the cause:

"Fear Not! (Korkma)"

Fear not!

O!

Drag me from Gezi Park

I dare you!

Pull me by my feet

While my fingernails scratch rows into the soil

And watch as sunflowers spring forth

So tall and thick that your machetes dull felling them

See my friends and I sitting cross-legged in the field that results

Laughing together and eating sunflower seeds.

Spray chemicals into my watery eyes

Burn the sight from them

And watch as anguished tears spill from my face

Onto your deserted concrete streets

Boring into the ground like acid

And watch the magnificent junipers

Jump eagerly from the holes

Their roots tearing up your barricades

Their branches smashing through your malls.

Pummel me with your rods

And watch your weapons sprout a thousand hands

That reach down to help me to my feet once more.

Declare me a liar, a spreader of false rumors

And watch all the skeptical heads turn your way instead.

Afix a blindfold to my eyes

A gag to my mouth

And watch as the world hears me speak

In a language you cannot comprehend

With the volume of a cannon.

Fear not!

O!

Drag me from Gezi Park

I dare you!