from the second issue of Storming Heaven
It was in the early morning of May 28th when the bulldozers came to uproot the trees at Gezi Park in Taksim Square, that a contagious rebellion began and spread throughout Turkey. What began as a protest against a development of one of Istanbul’s last green spaces to build a mall and the rebuilding of a military barracks, has now turned into a wide scale anti-government and anti-police movement. We’ve witnessed the Turkish government’s harsh response to the demonstrations resulting in almost 10,000 injured, many seriously, as well as several deaths. From pressured water cannons mixed with skin-burning chemicals to skies filled with tear gas, the ferocity of the police is reminiscent of Turkey’s tumultuous past.
To better understand the significance of the recent wave of protests in Turkey one has to only look into the past of the very heart of modern Istanbul, Taksim Square. Since it’s creation, the square has been a political battleground and a boiling point for social upheaval. One such instance is that of the 1969 Bloody Sunday on February 16th, in which the Turkish labor movement and left-wing demonstrators were brutally attacked by police forces and right-wing groups with clubs and knives, resulting in the death of two protesters and over 150 wounded.
Seventeen years pass as Turkey experiences a wave of political violence that resembles a low-level war with as many as 5,000 casualties, many of them left-wing students and intellectuals assassinated by ultra-nationalist, neo-fascist paramilitary groups like the Grey Wolves. On May 1st 1977, Taksim square witnesses yet another round of organized violence by fascists. In an attempt to undermine the demonstration, the media circulated rumors that the May Day protests would be bloody weeks before the event. That day, with the coordinated efforts of the police, ultra-nationalist groups and secret government security forces, 42 demonstrators are killed and hundreds injured. As one of the speakers is about to end his speech, shots are fired into the crowd by unknown assailants from on top of The Marma Hotel. The shooting lasts twenty minutes while the police stand by before charging into the crowd, crushing demonstrators with their armored vehicles. By the end of the day, hundreds of demonstrators are arrested and none of the assailants responsible for the shooting are ever found, due to a police cover up.
After the Taksim Massacre of 1977, no demonstrations were permitted in Taksim Square until in 2009 when the Turkish Government made May Day an official holiday in an attempt to cover up it’s past. But only after three years, May Day was yet again banned by the Turkish government resulting in severe clashes with the police as protesters attempted to march on Taksim Square. The street fighting that occurred on May 1st this year is a reminder that the revolt did not occur in a vacuum and reminds us of what length governments will go to when insuring their dominance, even when it means they must toss aside the disguise that they were nothing like before.
