Turkish police trying to curb the militancy of thousands of protesters, who are demanding the release of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, using water cannons, tear gas and rubber bullets. [Alexandros Avramidis]
In Sarachane Square, in front of Istanbul’s metropolitan municipality building, we met people from different social classes, political ideologies and ages. Among the thousands of Turkish flags and banners carrying the face of Kemal Ataturk waving in the air, we spotted flags of the Turkish Communist Party, student placards, protesters wearing Anonymous masks, and even supporters of the far-right raising their hands in the salute of the Grey Wolves.
‘The repression was so harsh that this may all eventually die down… On the other hand, we see people determined to continue’
The protesters flooded the square by the hundreds of thousands and shouted loud slogans. Despite their differences, they were united by one common point: the anger they felt toward President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the indignation at the destruction of the last shreds of democracy in Turkey. “It’s now or never,” they told Kathimerini, believing that the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was a significant turning point in Turkey’s history. The elimination of the president’s only significant political opponent was the last straw for them. As they told us, if a politician like Imamoglu can be imprisoned, no one is safe anymore.
“The streets of Istanbul have not seen such a large crowd protesting since 2013 and the Gezi Park movement,” during which mass demonstrations took place, observed Dora Menguc, a journalist working with Deutsche Welle Turkce.
The wall of fear
Dr Ezgi Basaran, a political scientist, former journalist and associate faculty member at the University of Oxford, explained to us what unites the diverse crowd that gathered in the streets and squares: “All these people have one thing in common: They go to vote no matter what, no matter what the situation. It is a sacred relationship for the citizens of Turkey, it is the contract they have with the state,” she said, adding that Erdogan has now deprived them of this last tool of democracy. The scale of the terror caused by the arrest of Imamoglu was so great that it led citizens to break the “wall of fear,” she added.
For a citizen protesting in Turkey, this fear is not an abstract concept. In Istanbul, police officers lined up in front of the demonstrators who gathered in the city hall park, preventing them from heading to Taksim, the city’s central and most famous square, which has become a symbol of similar movements, such as the Gezi Park protests. In every attempt by the demonstrators – mainly younger ones – to approach the cordon, police forces sprayed them with chemicals and tear gas and targeted them with plastic bullets. The atmosphere became suffocating and terrifying within seconds. The protesters dispersed in a hurry, unable to breathe. The tear gas was so intense that their eyes and hands burned for hours.
“I have plastic bullet wounds on my back and I have been targeted by too much tear gas,” says 22-year-old Ahmet, a student at the city’s Technical University. He is one of thousands of students who, although not affiliated with the Kemalist main opposition, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), demonstrated every night last week in Sarachane and continues to organize demonstrations on the university campus.
The 22-year-old’s generation plays a key role in the movement in Turkey, as it is the only one in the country of 85.3 million that has not known any other administration besides Erdogan’s, as well as the one that is disproportionately affected by the country’s poor economic state.
Ahmet’s family, like the parents of several young protesters, support the ruling Islamist AKP party and the Turkish president, saying that he allowed them to freely practice their religion. The next generation, however, is reacting to this. The university student and his friends have often discussed the prospect of emigrating abroad, both for their professional careers and their personal freedom. But they are trying to change things. “There is a slogan we used to chant: ‘I am here now to make my country a country worth living in,’” he says.
On the Sunday that Imamoglu was imprisoned, Ahmet witnessed a crescendo of police repression. When most of the crowd had dispersed, the police began beating the students with batons and chasing them. Among them was his group. Two of his friends were arrested and at the time that Kathimerini contacted him, they were still being held in prison. The message is that no one is safe – not even the journalists who were covering the events.
Kathimerini contacted Bulent Kilic, AFP’s award-winning chief photographer in Turkey, a few hours after his release from prison. “It was 6 a.m. on Monday and someone was knocking on the door like crazy. To be honest, I kind of expected it to happen. I opened the door and a lot of police officers came in… Trying to be polite, they told me not to touch my cellphone and to call a neighbor as a witness.” At the time of his arraignment, he asked to contact his ex-wife, saying that he needed to notify her as they have a small child. On the other end of line, his ex-wife explained that police had just entered her house.
Kilic covered the protests extensively and his photos were widely circulated on social media. In court, he was accused of participating as a protester in the rallies and of turning against the police authorities. He remained in prison with other journalists and young protesters for about three days. There were times when he felt afraid that he would remain detained for much longer. When asked whether this intimidation strategy was working, he answered in the affirmative. “They want to stop us and send a message to the rest of our colleagues. And it is working,” he said, adding that some photojournalists decided not to cover the subsequent demonstrations.
Without the Kurds
According to Ylenia Gostoli, a freelance reporter for international media based in Istanbul, the next phase of the movement that has begun is unknown. “The repression was so harsh that this may all eventually die down. Some protesters who were arrested will think twice or thrice about taking to the streets again. On the other hand, we see people determined to continue,” she told Kathimerini. She added that the way the main opposition party will act from now on will also play a role, and whether it will organize protest actions centrally. Gostoli also said that, so far, the Kurds have been absent from the demonstrations. “One of the slogans that is being heard is ‘We are all Ataturk’s soldiers.’ The Kurds do not see themselves in this.”
The scenarios
Discussing possible scenarios for the future with Dr Basaran, the political scientist sees mainly two: The best-case scenario would be to immediately call early elections, which, she believes, the current president would have a very hard time winning, and the worst scenario would be for Erdogan to declare the country in a state of emergency, so as to skip the polls completely. “In the past, he was interested in his image. He wanted there to be at least a semblance of democracy. Now, having arrested his main political opponent, Erdogan has crossed that line. Nothing is stopping him from declaring the country in a state of emergency.”