The document summarizes the Gezi Park protests that occurred in Turkey in 2013. It began as a small protest against the demolition of trees in Gezi Park to make way for construction. The protests grew significantly due to the violent police response and spread to other cities in Turkey. Key issues protested included the authoritarian policies of Prime Minister Erdogan and his AKP party, increasing restrictions on personal freedoms, and the commercialization of public spaces. Social media played a key role in spreading information about the protests and police brutality. The occupation of Gezi Park continued for over a week until police finally evacuated the area on June 1st.

1. GEZİ REZISTANCE
By Burcu Yiğiter
September 2013
burcu_yigiter@yahoo.com
INTRODUCTION
Gezi Park protests are a touchstone in modern Turkish history. It has roots in corruptive policies of
government, a misguided crisis of reconstruction of a park, brutal police violence, and last but not the
least need to raise voices about the things that don’t go well.
Gezi events started around 27th of May 2013 when the Municipality of Istanbul started demolition of
trees in Gezi Park, one of the few parks in the city center, where people could have a breathe among
the rush of the city. A small protest turned into a major event.
This article is about the events revolving around Gezi Park, Taksim Square, and Beşiktaş and finally
spreading many big cities all over Turkey under main topics that could be listed as follows:
 Against AKP(Ruling party) and Erdoğan (Prime Minister)
 Against police violence
 Against recent prohibition exhaust on abortion, increasing taxes, alcohol consumption, closing
city theatres, demolishing cultural centers like an old cinema.
 Against AKP policies for turning some areas into residences and shopping malls without any
public coverage.
 Against the media that turns a blind eye to these groundbreaking events

2. What is Gezi
Gezi is a park in Istanbul Taksim/Beyoğlu area in Turkey. It’s owned by Istanbul Municipality with
condition of using it only for the public purpose. It is located in a triangle of the Besiktas District
Centre, Taksim Square and Harbiye (boulevard) (see below.) This triangle is for public gathering. It is
always crowded and lies in the middle of a place full of bars, pubs, exhibitions, theatres, cinemas, and
cultural/tourism centers.
BesiktasGezi
Taksim Square
Gezi
Taksim Square

3. Gezi Park is, like every park, have trees, decorative ponds, banks, and also a small auditorium. It has
an opening to Taksim Square, which is at the center of many public events, concerts, festivals and
May Day celebrations. It has also another opening to Taksim Metro station, which makes it a place
everybody passes. It is also nearby the shuttle station to two airports of Istanbul. This makes Gezi a
park for resting for tourists before they take their shuttle. Lastly it is neighboring the hotels area of
Taksim, where is full of nice hotels with pedestrian roads.
Gezi was not as popular as Taksim square; however it has always been like bases in a song… It
was always there, and people haven’t realized it existed until the risk of disappearance appears.1
Gezi’s Short History
In 18th and 19th century whole Gezi Park and Taksim Square are empty fields, where soldiers did
their training. Besides there were some cemeteries; but they were later carried to other neighboring
places like Şişli, Feriköy and Nişantaşı. The place nearby Gezi Park lies Harbiye, which is one of the
military centers where includes places for training and also a hospital. On the place, where is now Gezi
Park, there used to be Topçu Barracks.
In the late 18th century Ottoman Empire started to build a western style army and started to build
modern barracks for their training. Topçu was one of them. Topçu was built in 1803 on a field, where
was empty and no housing. In 1870 Beyoğlu municipality made arrangements to the area and build a
park on the northern side of the barrack. Then the barrack and this area had been sold to a foreign
company, despite the objections. Through the end of World War I, Ottoman Empire needed the
barrack and bought it back. When WWI was ended platforms were put in the garden of the barracks
and it hosted some sports competitions. With the foundation of the Turkish Republic this whole area
was planned to be a green area and in 1940 Topçu was demolished and Gezi Park was built. What
1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ot8AmQQqr8

4. happened to the platforms could be seen now in Istanbul that they were carried down from the Taksim
hill next to Dolmabahçe Palace in the name of the İnönü Stadium of Besiktas Sports Club.
When it comes to the historical significance of Topçu, one need to look back to 31 March 1909
rebellion that shaped the way through the independence and foundation of Turkey. In 1909, the
Ottoman Empire had to give rights to the National Assembly that happened during 2nd
Constitutionalism Phase. On 31 March 1909 a major resurrection happened in Istanbul against the new
constitutionalism moves. Conservatives that include clerics and some military people were in
objection to new constitutionalism and they want the ruling of Islamic Law to be the sole authority to
rule the Empire. This major event is called 31 March Rebellion and it became a touchstone of Turkish
recent history when a military force came to the capital of the empire and to suppress this bloody
resurrection.
The military forces that came to push the Islamic Lawsupporters were headed by successful military
leaders. During the suppression, the founder of the Turkish Republic to be Colonel Mustafa Kemal
showed a great success. This opened Mustafa Kemal the way to start the process of independence of
the country from Islamic Law-prone Ottoman Empire to a secular Turkish Republic. This 31 March
rebellion started in ‘The Topçu Barracks’. It has a symbolic value for the Islamic Lawsupporters.
Seeing that Gezi Park was built on the place of Topçu Kışlası this can be inferred that its history
shows the symbolism ascribed to Gezi Park events. The events took spark from the construction
Project Pedestrian Taksim, which is designed basically to empty the area from highway traffic, and re-
build Topçu Barracks again as a mixture of cultural center, shopping mall and residences. 2
2
http://www.dw.de/top%C3%A7u-k%C4%B1%C5%9Flas%C4%B1n%C4%B1n-tarih%C3%AE-
anlam%C4%B1/a-16879025

5. What is the Project Pedestrian Taksim
On 12 June 2011, Prime Minister Erdogan, who is also former Mayor of Istanbul, announced a
project that targeted a re-construction of Taksim area. This reconstruction was going to make Taksim
Square a totally pedestrian area when highway traffic was going to be put under the surface via
tunnels. However, Topçu Barracks was planned to build on the area where was going to be evacuated
from car traffic and dedicated only for pedestrians.
Topçu Barracks before it
was demolished
Topçu Barracks before it was
demolished (Now its Gezi Park)
Taksim Square

6. On the other hand, Prime Minister Erdoğan has always been interested in Taksim area, where is a
center for entertainment, culture, and gatherings. His other two projects were to renew the Atatürk
Centre for Culture and Building a Grand Mosque for Taksim. 3
Atatürk Centre for Culture was built around 1970’s and it has an architectural and cultural value of
reflecting the needs, tastes and culture of that period. On the other hand, Taksim area is famous for its
night life and concentration of bars and clubs. The idea of building a big mosque in the middle of the
square disturbed many people due its symbolism of Islamic Law and alcohol free zone on a place
where religious symbols were few. 4
3
http://www.ibb.gov.tr/tr-TR/Pages/Haber.aspx?NewsID=21229
4
http://www.radikal.com.tr/politika/erdogan_akm_yikilacak_taksime_cami_de_yapilacak-1135947
Taksim Square
New Topçu (Gezi Park)

7. Another cultural symbol of Taksim area was a cinema/theatre called Emek. Emek Cinema Hall was
built in 1924 and demolished in 2013 in order to build a shopping mall called ‘Grand Pera’.
Moreover, the plan of Project of building a 3rd Bridge on Bosporus includes demolition of around
1.5 million trees. This took protests due to such a huge killing of trees. During Gezi protests the
construction took start. However, just after the beginning of the construction it stopped due to wrong
planning. Authorities stated that a mistake was made about the direction of the road after demolition of
some 250 thousand trees. Interestingly enough the Bridge’s name was announced to be Yavuz Sultan
Selim, who is an Ottoman Sultan lived in the 16th century and earned The Caliphate for Ottoman
Empire, which became a strong figure for Islamic Law Rule. Names of the other two bridges were
Bosporus and Fatih Sultan Mehmet (conquer of Istanbul).
Turning cultural, historical and social symbols into shopping malls took many objections from
different levels of society.
When Did The Protests Start?
On 27 May 2013 construction in Gezi Park started. Then it is realized that this was not only a
construction but also the demolition of trees in the park. When this tree cutting was spread among
environmentalist a crown of 50 persons summoned in Gezi Park and did their passive protests by
sitting in the park. Demolition stopped for a while because of the existence of the protesters. This
spread quickly throughout social media via Twitter and Facebook sharing websites.
Atatürk Center of Culture

8. Thousands of people raised their objections to this via social media. However on 28th of May police
forces attacked on the protesters, who were insisting on their claims saying the demolition of the park
is not legal. Usage of tear gas was taken to be unnecessary by tens of thousands when the interference
of the police was documented in the social media.
Sırrı Süreyya Önder, an MP of BDP (Kurdish Based) party arrived to Gezi and tried to stop the
diggers that were demolishing trees. He was successful in stopping the construction. The construction,
according to TMMOB (Turkish Chamber of Architects and Engineers), is not legal. Thousands of
members of TMMOB joined protests and then later this resulted in a pass of a law that bans TMMOB
to give occupational consultancy to construction projects.
On 29th of May protests continued under the pressure of police. The crowd was not only made by
environmentalists but very different parts of the society. Police intervention was still unnecessarily
harsh, since the protests were passive and unarmed. The support of people even came from their work
places with their suits. As if Gezi protests were not enough, prime minister pressed the start button of
the construction of the 3rd bridge on Bosporus with the expressions targeting people in Gezi. He stated
that they will build the bridge despite the protests.5
Reuters Agency photos of the protests took a lot of attention, since local media did not seem
interested. Especially one photo of a woman in red under police tear gas attach took a lot of attention
and became the first symbol of the resistance. Woman in red then discovered to be an instructor in
Istanbul Technical University board of City Planning. She is an expert and she also protested the
construction in Gezi. The police was pouring tear gas on this passive woman and she never seemed
panicked. She gave a small interview to English Press. She stated she is just one of the people who
were under this police violence. English press also condemned the police who attacked a protester,
who was under ‘picnic’ dress.
Woman in red and jokes, words and stories about her started the most important part of the protests:
‘humor’. The photograph spread with the speed of light.
5
http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/23390657.asp

9. On 30th of May 2013 at 5:00 am, police entered the park and put the tents of the protesters on fire
without making any warning. When protests wanted to get their personal belongings police again

10. answered the tear gas. This was followed by Greenpeace’s announcement and support of political
figures like CHP (Opposition Party) party President Gürsel Tekin.6
Artists and public figures then entered to arena by coming to Gezi to join the protests, which turned
into an activity of reading books on 30 May evening. Okan Bayülgen, well known artist and talk show
host, read books to protesters from his radio show.7
Social Media was full of pictures of readers in
Gezi and their intercourse with the police. The whole protest now became ‘Gezi Park Watch’ to keep
construction away from the police, who were always there and waiting for the orders. With the
increasing crowd, the number of police has increased and their shift that lasted tens of hours stated.
This long shift of the police then thought to be one of the reasons of brutality. Before the evening of
May 30th thousands came to park to support the ‘watch’.
On 31th of May early in the morning police resume intervention with excessive amount of tear gas
and with coercive water from the vehicles called TOMA (Vehicle for Public Event Intervention).
6
http://www.greenpeace.org/turkey/tr/news/siddeti-ve-doga-kiyimini-kiniyoruz-400513/
7
http://www.insanhaber.com/medya/okan-bayulgen-gezi-parkindan-canli-yayinda-h15473.html

11. Amnesty International condemned the use of excessive tear gas. Pictures and testimonials grew like
an avalanche8
. Thanks to social media everybody knew everything about the resistance minute by
minute. Hashtags like #occupygezi, #occupytaksim carries millions of tweets between people. Public
figures, celebrities and singers came to Gezi or they tweeted about the events to show their support.
The hottest topic was the brutality of police intervention against a very pacifist event; followed by the
excessive use of tear gas.
More support came from other big cities of Turkey: Eskişehir, Ankara (Capital), Izmir, Adana,
Antalya and Bursa. The main theme was brutal police violence and aims of putting a shopping mall on
a beautiful park.
8
http://humanrightsturkey.org/2013/05/30/amnesty-condemns-excessive-force-at-gezi-park/

12. Night of 31st of May major gathering around Gezi and Taksim area started. People, regardless of
their political view came to Gezi to support the protesters and also to protest police violence. Finally
football fans got together in the main squares and boulevards of Istanbul and marched to Taksim.
Besiktas district is neighboring Taksim area and the first football fan group to support Gezi was
Besiktas football fan group called Çarşı. Hundred thousands of people marched to Taksim and Gezi
through the ways from Harbiye, Besiktas and Tophane. Police increased its forces and used excessive
amount of tear gas without following the tear gas usage instructions. Tear gas cartridges shall not be
fired closer than 120 meters and shall be with an angle of 45 degrees. And it should not be used by
high amounts. These instructions were all ignored by the police that even the next day remainders of
tear gas were affecting people who try to go to their works.

13. The next day there were thousands of injuries and thousands of empty tear gas bomb cartridges on
the roads. However protests continued. That night via social media people shared information,
pictures, and evidence of illegal intervention of the police. Then finally 3G connections were cut.
However people connected via WI-Fi of the hotels, bars and restaurants in the area. Flow of
information was continued.

14. Some restaurants, residences and buildings opened their doors to resisters, who have been sprayed
with tear gas that came from either independent police guns or from vehicles called ‘Scorpion’.
Starbucks located nearby Gezi Park was protested because it did not open its doors to people who
were under harsh police attack and barely breathe. On the other hand, Divan Otel, next to Gezi, gave
full support to the protesters and even did not let police to enter into the lobby.
While local media were mute international press like BBC, Le Monde, CNN International and
Reuters made Gezi protests top news. Common discourse was harsh moves of police forces to
peaceful protesters. Interestingly enough the military barracks nearby Gezi and military hospital
nearby Taksim Square helped protesters. Some soldiers gave gas masks to protesters. Later police
forces tried to ban their help but colonels did not let them interfere military’s decisions, which is
exclusive.
Then it was announced that the objections of Taksim Gezi Platform months before for Gezi
construction to the Administrative Court resulted positively for the favor of stopping construction in
Gezi.
Since protests took place in Taksim area, which was in the European side, protesters in the Asian
side could not find a way to join protests other than summoning to Kadıköy Square. Then some people

15. before sunset marched to the European side via Bosporus Bridge. Cars on the bridge supported them
with horns.

16. Meantime police demanded extra forces from other cities. Prime Minister Erdoğan stated that Gezi
Park events are Ideological. Resistance and police violence persisted in Taksim area and Gezi until 1st
of June. On 1st of June police evacuated Gezi and Taksim area. However during evacuation they used
force against people who were trying to reach Taksim from Besiktas.
When it comes to 2nd of June Taksim Area was emptied from police and full of passive protesters.
They started to clean Gezi and Taksim from tear gas cartridges and the dirt of fights between police
and protesters. Even Madonna tweeted about the protests. On 2nd of June football fans out of Istanbul
especially from Izmir and Trabzon arrived Istanbul. The whole Gezi protests became a move against
brutal police violence and prime mister, who did not only ignore the voice of the protesters also made
speeches that climbed the anger. Throughout this period, protesters out of Taksim continued to be
pressed under police force, which was excessive tear gas and coercive water from TOMA’s. Doctors
or medical students rushed to the streets to give voluntary help to thousands of injured protesters.
These people including any level of medical staff like nurses, doctors, medical students, and
pharmacies, get together in appropriate places that are safe from tear gas and available to take care of
injuries. These places are made infirmaries. One of these places was a mosque in Besiktas that many
injured were carried and found first aid thanks to the medical crowd that were organized via social
media. In the meantime, Ankara Eskişehir, Adana, Antalya and Izmir cities witnessed big protests and
police violence in return. There were rumors about AKP (Ruling Party of PM Erdoğan) youth wing’s
participation of the police force. At the end of the day non-official shares via Facebook stated that

17. there were thousands of injured and also deaths. Some people got blind because of the tear gas
cartridges that were directly targeted to individuals rather than 45 degree angle.
On 3rd of June, hundereds of thousands, may be millions were at Taksim. Barricades were made in
case of returning of police forces. However resistance continued everywhere out of Taksim. There
were injuries.

19. Injuries forced people to wear helmets and gas masks. Some salesmen saw this opportunity and sold
helmets and gas masks on the streets. However later these helmets helped police arresting people even
if they were used to avoid injuries come from tear gas cartridges coming from the police itself.
Resistance was taken out of Taksim. While Taksim turned into a pacifist protest area without police
and Gezi Park to a commune that protests put tents and thousands share food, pillow, and sleeping
bags, resistance continued in Besiktas nearby Taksim. Football fans in Besiktaş resisted to police
under the name of a fan group Çarşı. Çaşı fans captured a digger from the construction area of İnönü
stadium and fought against coercive water vehicle TOMA against police
Stock exchange in Istanbul lost points. Hundreds of thousands that did not protest on the streets
made their voices heard by making noises with pots and pans. Despite the drop of stock exchange PM
Erdoğan continued his tough stand and before his flight to Fez he stated that pots and pans are the
same repetition of a melody… I hardly keep 50% in their homes (He believed that he keep 50% of the
society, who voted for him, at their homes). This speech started the arguments about the democracy to
be realized only via voting or during the ruling period. President Gül made his point by stating that
democracy is not election only and peaceful messages have been taken…9
9
http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/23424869.asp

20. Starting from 4th of June protests spread faster to out of the streets. Public figures tried to make
their own protests on television. For example, İhsan Varol, the host of a word competition asked
questions related to Gezi Events at that night.
Such protests grew enormously among every level of the society from TV shows to sports. If these
people could not support their own jobs they resign like Mehmet Turgut, a famous photographer,
resigned from the TV channel he Works. With the ongoing ignorance of the local press to these major
events was going to cause either more resigns or drop outs.
In the meantime thousands were settled in Gezi Park. How they were fed is reflected in the meal
order websites. There were thousands of orders made out of the city addressed to Gezi Park.
Neighboring hotels also gave food to the protesters. In the Bar of Istanbul lawyers that protested the
Gezi events in Çağlayan Courthouse were arrested with a brutal manner. This took more protests even
from the least politicized levels. 600 Antalya Bar member lawyers protested the arrest of Istanbul Bar
and walked to Cumhuriyet Square, where masses joined them.
On 5th of June, support increased to protesters from every level of society. Housewives were
protesting with pans and pots and public figures like actresses and actors rushed to Gezi Park. 5th of
June was a holy day for Muslims. No violence happened that day. Protesters offered cookies to police,
and crowd prayed in Taksim unlike the expectations of the conservatives, who thought protesters
didn’t have respect.
Dictator
Tear Gas

21. On that day Noam Chomsky announced his support to the protesters, who have already been
labelled to be looters (Çapulcu in Turkish) by the Prime Minister. Looter (Çapulcu) word became a
symbol for people who protest. Finally vice Prime Minister Arınç welcomed Taksim Platform (an
NGO) members to Prime Ministry building to hear their claims, which were:
- Gezi Park shall stay at a park like now and agreements to be made about its persistence as a
park.
- Atatürk Centre of Culture demolition will stop immediately.
- Removal of the local governing forces those are responsible for the deaths, injuries and arrests
of thousands during the protests, which was the natural right of the citizens.
- To ban on the usage of tear gas and materials like that
- To release of the citizens arrested all over the country because they support the resistance.
- To stop violence against the protest take place on the major squares and public places in the
whole country like Taksim Square and Kızılay Square, where also May Day celebrations take
place.
- To Abolish the bans against Right of Expression
Thousands of union members marched to Taksim in Istanbul and Kızılay in Ankara.
Throughout the resistance at Gezi Park lots and lots of cultural and arts events took place that could be
found in the ‘humor’ section.

22. On 6th of June, University of New York announced that 1.8 million tweets were exchanged during
the protests.
A police officer chasing protesters slipped from a bridge and passed away. This took attention and
sadness of both police and protesters together. Stock exchange continued to lose points. In the
meantime, about 2500 academic staff of the universities marched to Taksim square to protest Gezi
Events.
While fans of football teams Beşiktaş, Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray were marching to Taksim with
torches, in Ankara police were intervening to protests at Kızılay and Kuğulu parks with tear gas.
On 9th of June Governor of Taksim made milder speeches to protesters on Tweeter like ‘ I made a
thousand apologies for just a heart’.
Protests in Gezi and Taksim became a place for all political views. Many different political parties
took place in Gezi. Kurdist nationalist party BDP also supported the protests by the high number of
people. When they opened their Kurdish flag with the pictures of their leader Abdullah Öcalan they
could have triggered some events. However this never happened. This is a sign of depolarization and a
pacifist nature of Gezi resistance.
On the 10th of June PM Erdoğan threatened the crowd by his words of ‘if you continue to resist,
we will respond to you with the language you understand’. Then, on the same day, PM Erdoğan stated
that : the Mosque that protesters entered to find medical help was abused by protesters from entering
with the shoes (it is forbidden to enter mosques with shoes on), and also by drinking beer. However

23. evidence of drinking beer was not found, entering with the shoes were never problem because
coverage were put on the carpets. Even if it did it should have been more than ok to heal people and
give first aid into the mosque. This argument climbed further and the cleric responsible for the
Mosque had a lot of trouble with the government because he said he did not see anyone drinking beer.
Following days saw events like targeting M.Ali Alabora, well known actor, to drag people to resist
by the theatres he did. M.Ali Alabora stated that some newspapers showed him a target for Gezi
protests and he stated he doesn’t feel secure about his right to live.
Then comes the evidence recordings of the deaths in Gezi events. Everybody was waiting for the
killers to be the gas bomb cartridges like it happened to a Palestinian tourist in Taksim, who was still
in coma because of the tear gas cartridge shot to her head. However it was different. Ethem Sarısülük
was killed by a bullet came from a police officer. This was stabilized by the video recordings spread
just after he was shot with a real bullet.

24. Throughout this week Taksim and Gezi were Police free because no order came from the ruling
authorities and also thanks to barricades built by many different organizations came from different
views.
On 11th of June peaceful environment was ended by the police that attempted to enter to police-free
Taksim square. Intervention was to take the posters down and eliminate the Gezi tents and kiosks.
Only Turkish flag was left to be shown on the protests. However, Turkish flag with national leader
Atatürk’s poster was already been stated to be the evil symbol of the Gezi resistance. Governor stated
that Gezi was going to be untouched. However, police forces intervened in Gezi despite the children
who enjoy the park.
On the other hand, court in Ankara announced jurisdiction that protests are a natural right of
citizens. Therefore no sentence was given to protesters who were arrested throughout this time10
. This
followed by the declaration of Ban Ki Mun saying AKP government should be calm11
.
Throughout the resistance local TV channels were seized to make real news. On 12th of June, only
channels that broadcast what happened in the area of Taksim were: Halk TV, Ulusal Kanal, Cem Tv
and EM TV. However these channels were given sentences of hundred thousands of Money to act
against the rules of broadcasting. Lastly, more responses came from other cities like Izmir to the arrest
of the lawyers that support Gezi resistance. The surprise of the day was the mini concert of famous
pianist David Martello’s mini concert at Taksim square.
10
http://www.dunyabulteni.net/?aType=haber&ArticleID=263339
11
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/un-secretary-general-urges-calm-and-dialogue-in-turkey-
protests.aspx?pageID=238&nid=48648

25. On 13th of June a famous actor Necati Şaşmaz talked to PM Erdoğan. However Şaşmaz could not
manage to deliver any message that Gezi supporters could understand. The same day mothers of the
teenage protesters came to Taksim and Gezi Park and support their children by making up a Chain of
Mothers’.
On 14th of June, the Ministry of Health announced that doctors and staff that helped protesters
were under examination. The same day it was announced that Ethem Sarısülük, who was shot by the
police with a real bullet, passed away in the hospital. At that moment Municipal of Ankara Melih
Gokcek put posters on the Ankara Kuğulu Park that thank police forces for their efforts.
There were 8 dogs, 63 cats and 1,028 birds were killed by gas during Gezi Events.

26. On 15th of June the Governor of Istanbul decided to put all placards away from Taksim. On 16th
of June PM Erdoğan announced that the AKP party had a meeting in Istanbul and if protesters would
not go away the security forces would know what they would do. Then the Taksim area was starting to
be evacuated with police forces. Majority resisted. Especially the ones that were affected by gas seek
shelter in Divan Hotel, which was located nearby Gezi Park and always helped protestors. This time
German Politician Claduis Roth was staying in Divan Hotel and witnessed the brutal violence of the
police. The next day Ethem’s funeral ceremony was stopped by the police with tear gas and without
any warning. If there would be a warning people would not go away from the funeral ceremony.
Police forces would know this. In the meantime police investigated about Besikaş football team fans

27. under the name of Çarşı. They put some Çarşı members into jail. Police came back with violence and
intervened to march of unions.
Later on 17th of June, police took Gezi Park over. They never let any civilian to enter Gezi Park.
This time police were standing on the places where barricades were built. On the same day Erdem
Gündüz, an actor in a city theatre started a passive rebellion by just standing. His move of standing 8
hours shakes social media.
On the 18th of June police continued to occupy Gezi. Crown in Taksim Park went to homes.
Ramadan month was coming. After a few days police re-evacuated Gezi and left it to be a park…
What is it now?
Gezi events show that people in Turkey first want to make their voices higher and to
remind the ruling party that democracy is not just voting and also it is not only serving for the
citizens who voted for the ruling party.
On the other hand, a portion of society is nor only supporters of liberalization in the economy
but also liberalization in every level of the social life. A ban on lifestyles like abortion,
alcohol and rushes to ‘Shopping Mall’isation of the cultural symbols triggered people to get
together and raise their voices.
Gezi events after Ramadan lost its pace. However, the spirit stayed. Many small passive
protest events happened since Gezi Resistance.

28. One example is the ‘Rainbow Stairs’. A Karaköy(District in Istanbul) inhabitant painted the
long stairs in his neighborhood in the colors of the rainbow. This has been welcomed by gay
organizations like LGBT(Gay rights NGO). However municipality painted the stairs back to
gray. Hüseyin Çetineş, the inhabitant who painted the stairs stated that he did this to make
people smile. Then support came from many different places in and out of Istanbul.
Especially when Turkey is on the bulk of supporting a war in Syria. War is not something
people would support and PM Erdoğan is seeking for the ways to support the war without
consent of the citizens.

30. Finally Istanbul lost Olympic game tender. This is believed to be the harsh authoritarian face
of the government. Gezi Park resistence reminded that many things are not going well in
Istanbul enough to host the games. This also includes the casualties during the resistance and
one in the hospital who is a child that was going to market to but bread and shot with a gas
bomb cartridge from the head.
Some Facts
Some research companies made research on Gezi Resistance. According to researches12
:
- 24% of the population support Gezi Resistance
- 6.8% gives partial support
- 52.5% don’t support Gezi.
- 61% think protests are legal
- 58% who joined protesters stated they protest because they feel their independence is
limited
- According to Bloomberg Magazine revenue of Shopping malls decreased by 30%.
12
http://www.dunya.com/gezi-parki-arastirmalari-ne-soyluyor-152314yy.htm
Losses of Gezi Resistance

31. - 30.3% of the protesters stated that they are pğroptesting against PM Erdoğan’s
speeches and attitudes
- 22 journalists were fired and 37 were forced resignation.13
- About 2.5 million people were thought to physically join the protests14
.
- Around 5 protesters died, 11 protesters lost their sight, 7,832 injured with 60 of them
was serious15
.
13
http://www.bbc.co.uk/turkce/haberler/2013/08/130803_hollanda_gezi.shtml
14
http://gundem.milliyet.com.tr/2-5-milyon-insan-79-ilde-sokaga/gundem/detay/1726600/default.htm
15
http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/23556728.asp