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  • The Hidden History of Gezi Park

    THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF GEZI PARK

    13:21, July 4, 2013
    By Vicken Cheterian

    (The following article appeared in the July 4, 2013 edition of the
    Middle East Online)

    History is a sensitive question in Turkey, even controversial, and
    it has done much to forget its own history.

    The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in his defence of
    the project of building a new shopping centre and luxury apartments
    at the place of Gezi Park in Istanbul, said something symbolic:
    the reconstruction plans, which supposedly would resurrect the
    architecture of an old military barracks based on the architecture of
    a 19th century Ottoman building, would amount to "respecting history."

    History is a sensitive question in Turkey, even controversial, and it
    has done much to forget its own history. So it's surprising to see
    such a fierce struggle now being waged in its name. Amid the host
    of media reports, documentaries etc, only a very few recalled that
    the park had a history. The Prime Minister could have remembered,
    for example, that the architect of the original barracks built in
    1806 was Krikor Balian, an Armenian belonging to a famous family of
    architects who were in the service of the Sultans.

    To mention the architect of the old artillery barrack that Erdogan
    is aiming to re-construct is not a secondary issue. It is the part
    of Turkish and Ottoman history that modern Turkish politicians have
    invested enormous efforts to erase and forget: the participation of
    religious minorities, such as Greeks, Assyrians, Jews, but especially
    Armenians, in the country's cultural, economic and political life.

    More important than the architect though is the memory of a former
    Armenian cemetery left to oblivion. The place in which Gezi Park
    stands, where the Turkish Prime Minister now wants to build a shopping
    mall and a mosque, was once an Armenian cemetery. In 1551, following
    an epidemic, the land was given to the Armenian Church by Sultan
    Suleyman. It was later enlarged and walled. In 1837 Surp Haop (Saint
    James) Armenian Hospital was constructed next to it, and continues
    to function. On the ground of the cemetery a church, Saint Gregory
    the Illuminator, was also built. And between 1919 and 1922 a monument
    dedicated to the Armenian victims of 1915 was erected. The cemetery
    was confiscated in 1930, on the pretext that the Armenian Church did
    not have a property title for the cemetery. The Armenian Patriarchate
    of Istanbul, Mesrob Naroyan, attempted to reclaim the cemetery through
    the courts, arguing that Turkish law permitted ownership after fifteen
    years of uncontested occupation. But the court supported the government
    decision, and imposed a heavy fine on the Church.

    The government allowed only two weeks to remove the graves. Some
    were taken to the Sisli Armenian cemetery, most were left behind. The
    cemetery was then taken over by the authorities, which sold off the
    tombstones. Some of the remaining marble stones were later used to
    build the staircases and fountain of Gezi Park while the confiscated
    land was sold to private businesses -- the Turkish radio company TRT
    offices, and luxury hotels such as the Divan Hotel, Hyatt, and Hilton.

    No one expected the small, environmentalist protest that started to
    protect the 600 trees of Gezi Park to become a nation-wide protest
    against the policies of Erdogan. "The movement started as environmental
    issue and for the protection of cultural heritage. The reason it grew
    was because of police violence," said Sevil Turan, the co-spokesperson
    of the Turkish Greens. The way the movement started was unbelievable,
    Turan said. "I did not imagine so many people would join the protest
    movement. People came because they were so angry with the government,
    but at the same time they were so calm, there was no violence."

    "You captured our graveyard, but you can't capture our park!" A
    youth movement called Nor Zartonk (Armenian for "new awakening")
    raised this slogan. Sayat Tekir, its spokesperson, said that "from
    the first day we were at Gezi Park."

    This movement resembles the mobilization that followed the
    assassination of Hrant Dink, bringing together people from all
    horizons. Dink was a Turkish-Armenian journalist and chief-editor of
    bilingual weekly Agos, who was assassinated in Istanbul in 2007. Over
    a hundred thousand people came out on the streets for his funeral.

    The Gezi Park mobilization was equally diverse: various Turkish
    political trends (a militant wrapped in the red Turkish flag walked
    hand-in-hand with another dressed in a flag with the image of Abdullah
    Ocalan). Leftists and nationalists, Turks and Kurds, environmentalists
    and anti-capitalists, all came together to oppose what they saw as
    increasing authoritarianism of the new Turkish strongman.

    Nor Zartonk started as an email discussion forum back in 2004,
    made up of Turkish Armenians. But people remained fearful of taking
    political action, said Tekir, because of the traditional fear Turkish
    Armenians have lived in since 1915. "The assassination of Hrant Dink
    was the motor that pushed us to action. We organized conferences and
    discussions on the Armenian question, minorities in Turkey, relations
    with the European Union, etc., but also took part in demonstrations.

    They were part of the mobilization against the closing down of the Emek
    movie theatre where, like Gezi Park, municipal authorities wanted to
    build a shopping centre. Like Gezi, Emek has a secret story: It was
    confiscated from its Jewish owners during the second world war.

    On the second week of the latest demonstrations, a group of anti-racism
    activists wanted to erect a monument at Gezi Park referring to
    the 1919 monument there dedicated to the memory of the victims of
    the Armenian genocide. They also wanted to name one of the streets
    adjacent to the park "Hrant Dink Caddesi." They carried banners on
    which it was written: "Burdayiz Ahparig!" -- we are here, brother!

    Tekir said: "Until recently, the Armenian community in Turkey were
    frightened and closed in upon themselves, the result of a series of
    massacres and repression that started in the late Ottoman period
    and continued under the Republic. We want to ask for our rights,
    to claim a democratic society."

    Erdogan's answer to the "Occupy Gezi" movement came in his usual
    defiant manner, unmoved by the thousands of citizens demonstrating
    against his projects in the face of police repression. "A mosque
    will be built in Taksim," he said, then added that "he did not have
    to receive permission from the main opposition leader or a 'few
    marauders' for the projects." After returning from a tour in North
    Africa, the Prime Minister was even harsher in his announcements:
    "These protests must end immediately. No power but Allah can stop
    Turkey's rise. The police are doing their duty. These protests, which
    have turned into vandalism and utter lawlessness must end immediately."

    Sevil Turan said: The "AKP has become so strong, it sees there
    is no political alternative. Erdogan wants to leave behind him a
    monument on Takism Square, build a new, conservative culture. The
    Prime Minister remained silent [over the fact] that this was an old
    Armenian cemetery."

    For Turan, Gezi Park has introduced a new political culture: "It
    was an experience of direct democracy." Tekir agrees: "Those who
    entered the park, and those who went out of it weren't the same people
    anymore. Gezi became a laboratory for political formation."

    http://hetq.am/eng/news/27895/the-hidden-history-of-gezi-park.html



    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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