Tweet
TRACES OF GEZI PARK
Today's Zaman, Turkey
July 16 2013
TUBA AYDIN
For a month and a half now Turkey has been feeling the effects of
the Gezi Park protests which began as a sit-in at the park in Taksim
Square to halt the government's Taksim rejuvenation project and later
turned into frictions across the country due to provocateurs and the
government's failure to handle the protests.
In a recent development, 15 people who were detained on Friday in the
fourth wave of police operations connected to the Gezi Park protests
were referred to a court in Ä°zmir on Monday. There were detentions in
simultaneous early morning home raids in İzmir, Balıkesir, Manisa
and Bursa. In the previous three operations in Ä°zmir, a total of
37 protesters were referred to court for arrest. Columnists analyzed
the effect of the Gezi Park protests in our country.
According to Taraf columnist Murat Belge, the Gezi Park protests
are among the three largest mass demonstrations in Turkey's recent
history. The other two include the "One minute of darkness for
permanent light" protest after the 1996 Susurluk incident, a car
accident that exposed links between the Turkish state, the criminal
underworld and security forces, and a march in Ä°stanbul which was
participated by tens of thousands of people after Armenian-Turkish
journalist Hrant Dink was shot dead outside his newspaper's office
in Å~^iÅ~_li on Jan. 19, 2007. Belge finds the Gezi Park protests
a successful and a righteous movement which was a result of Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's determination to shape Turkish people
according to his norms.
Bugun's Ahmet TaÅ~_getiren says the Gezi Park protests, whose cause has
now shifted away from environmental concerns, left many shopkeepers
in Taksim economically disadvantaged due to the damage inflicted by
protesters on their shops. TaÅ~_getiren also thinks that some circles
used Islam such as holding fast-breaking dinners and celebrating Lailat
al-Miraj, also known as Mirac Kandili in Turkish, to legitimize their
wrongful actions during the demonstrations and to convince others of
the necessity of violent actions in their protests.
Radikal's Koray CalıÅ~_kan says the ruling Justice and Development
Party (AK Party), which took a brave step to get rid of the military
tutelage, saw the Gezi Park protests as a threat to Erdogan and could
not successfully manage the crisis after the protests.
Today's Zaman, Turkey
July 16 2013
TUBA AYDIN
For a month and a half now Turkey has been feeling the effects of
the Gezi Park protests which began as a sit-in at the park in Taksim
Square to halt the government's Taksim rejuvenation project and later
turned into frictions across the country due to provocateurs and the
government's failure to handle the protests.
In a recent development, 15 people who were detained on Friday in the
fourth wave of police operations connected to the Gezi Park protests
were referred to a court in Ä°zmir on Monday. There were detentions in
simultaneous early morning home raids in İzmir, Balıkesir, Manisa
and Bursa. In the previous three operations in Ä°zmir, a total of
37 protesters were referred to court for arrest. Columnists analyzed
the effect of the Gezi Park protests in our country.
According to Taraf columnist Murat Belge, the Gezi Park protests
are among the three largest mass demonstrations in Turkey's recent
history. The other two include the "One minute of darkness for
permanent light" protest after the 1996 Susurluk incident, a car
accident that exposed links between the Turkish state, the criminal
underworld and security forces, and a march in Ä°stanbul which was
participated by tens of thousands of people after Armenian-Turkish
journalist Hrant Dink was shot dead outside his newspaper's office
in Å~^iÅ~_li on Jan. 19, 2007. Belge finds the Gezi Park protests
a successful and a righteous movement which was a result of Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's determination to shape Turkish people
according to his norms.
Bugun's Ahmet TaÅ~_getiren says the Gezi Park protests, whose cause has
now shifted away from environmental concerns, left many shopkeepers
in Taksim economically disadvantaged due to the damage inflicted by
protesters on their shops. TaÅ~_getiren also thinks that some circles
used Islam such as holding fast-breaking dinners and celebrating Lailat
al-Miraj, also known as Mirac Kandili in Turkish, to legitimize their
wrongful actions during the demonstrations and to convince others of
the necessity of violent actions in their protests.
Radikal's Koray CalıÅ~_kan says the ruling Justice and Development
Party (AK Party), which took a brave step to get rid of the military
tutelage, saw the Gezi Park protests as a threat to Erdogan and could
not successfully manage the crisis after the protests.