Gezi Anniversary: Gezi Park Protests Timeline
One year ago today, a group of around 50 demonstrators from the Taksim Solidarity group met up in Gezi Park next to the central Taksim Square to protest the cutting down of trees in the park, the first step in the destruction of the park to make way from a shopping mall. Less than a week later, the whole of Turkey was on its feet to protest police brutality against the peaceful demonstrators, police violence in general, and the autocratic-esque policies and attitude of the Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan and his ruling AKP government.
To explain how the protests of 50 campaigners led to mass protests, Aydınlık Daily presents its timeline of events kicking off from the 28th May 2013.
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28th May: Protests began as a peaceful occupation of Gezi Park who hoped their occupation would save it from demolition as it had been planned that former barracks would be re-built and used for shops. A number of protesters enter the park and successfully stop diggers and construction, erecting tents in the park. One young woman, Ceyda Sungur, unwittingly becomes the symbol of the protests, the size of which doubtless could be predicted on the Tuesday, when she is sprayed with pepper spray by a policeman. This moment, captured on film, displayed the over-aggressive police to the world.
29th May: Following Tuesday’s events, the protest was joined by BDP deputy Sırrı Süreyya Önder on Wednesday who sat in front of the heavy machinery to prevent trees being cut down, demanding that construction crews show permits for their work. Demonstrators returned to the park after the previous day’s events, again setting up tents and announcing they would hold a concert and a film night on the Thursday.
30th May: At 5am Thursday morning, police officers raided the park using tear gas to clear Gezi Park of the demonstrators who were camped there, collecting and burning their tents. Later in the day, CHP chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu made a statement on the week’s events in the park, adding that every day a CHP MP would attend the protest, while Turkish PM Erdoğan stoked the flames by declaring “Whatever they do, we have made up our minds and will do it.” By the evening, demonstrators had once again set up camp in Gezi Park.
31st May: The latest encampment of demonstrators was again raided and destroyed by police early in the morning, with tear gas once more being used. At around 1pm, Friday afternoon, people met in Taksim Square to protest the police actions of the previous 24 hours, but few expected the disproportionate use of force of the police,who used excessive amounts of tear gas and water cannons to clear the square of dissent. Images of Taksim Square completely cloaked in tear gas and of one young woman, Lobna Allami, confulsing on the ground having been hit in the head with a tear gas canister shocked the city. These afternoon events only managed to bring more out onto the street to protest the police violence, and hundreds of tear gas canisters were fired to prevent people from taking back Taksim Square. The clashes continued into the night, with the police eventually backing off from Taksim and Gezi Park, as protests began to pop up in other cities having read and seen the Istanbul protests online.
1st June: Early Saturday morning, thousands of people crossed from the Asian side to the European side of Istanbul to join the protest, but were prevented from doing so by the police tear gas. Although Gezi Park and Taksim Square were relatively calm, police intervention occurred against groups on Istiklal Caddesi, which in some areas was cloaked in tear gas. Protests continued to grow in Turkey as well, with the biggest protests in Izmir and Ankara being attacked by tear gas and water cannons.
2nd June: After days of protests, Gezi Park and the streets were cleaned by protesters who again began to set up camp in Gezi Park, setting up tents. The atmosphere in the square became almost like a music festival, with different groups joining throughout the day, including the Beşiktaş supporter group çⒶrşı. On the Sunday, people went to the offices of NTV who, like many TV channels, did not broadcast events throughout the protests, with the most infamous being CNN Türk showing a program on penguins during the heaviest clashes.
3rd June: In the morning of the 3rd of June, Turkey arose to videos of excessive police force of the previous night, including the tear gassing on a ground floor flat and a university. Protests continued throughout the day all over Turkey, and once again police brutality was caught on film and quickly published on social media outlets for the world to see. In a move criticised by many, Erdoğan leaves Turkey for a 4 day visit of North Africa, leaving his deputies in charge of the country with protests continuing to escalate. Other events of the day include the hacking of Turkish government websites by Redhack, the fall of the stock market, and the continued increase of protests and use of tear gas.
4th June: The peaceful protest in Gezi Park, Istanbul, had continued to grow, and by the Tuesday a library and food stalls had been set up to supply those staying in the park with tea and supplies. In Antakya, mourners were out on the street for the funeral of Abdullah Cömert who had died the previous day, however this too was hit by tear gas and water cannons, outraging many. On the streets of Izmir, armed groups of AKP supporters were reported to be attacking protesters, who in many cities were holding peaceful protests. The AKP speaker of parliament Bülent Arınç apologised for the police violence.
5th June: Numerous unions went on strike on the Wednesday, bringing more people onto the streets all over Turkey, especially in Istanbul. Ankara again saw itself choked by tear gas, with the estimated 10,000 protests in Kızılay Square being cleared by police using tear gas and water cannons. In Rize, Erdoğan's family home, police had to intervene as a large group of AKP supporters attacked a small number protesters, forcing them to hid in a building until police escorted them away.
6th June: During the night, celebrations began for Miraç Kandili, a religious festival that protesters celebrated in Gezi Park. Prayers were later led by a member of the group. Protests continued all over Turkey, with some being peaceful while some saw intervention by the police. Late in the night, Erdoğan returned to Turkey from his 4 day tour to North Africa, with thousands greeting him at the airport as buses had been commandeered to bring people there while the metro remained open until 4am.
7th June: Friday prayers were led by members of the protest in Gezi Park in the morning, and continued during the day. Those not praying displayed respect to this group and refrained from drinking during prayers. Some famous artists from the music and television world joined the protests in Gezi Park, while Erdoğan announced his displeasure of being portrayed as a sultan in the week's Economist.
8th June: With the arrival of the weekend, the square again was packed with people, including the supporter groups of Istanbul's three major teams who came together to show their support for the protest. As protests continued over Turkey, high-ranking AKP officials hold a 4 hour meeting to decide a plan of action, with rumours of a snap-election being held. What was arranged were two AKP meetings in Istanbul and Ankara.
9th June: Erdoğan told a crowd of supporters in Adana that his patience had a limit, a threat to protesters, while there are reports of AKP supporters throwing stones at protesters and that 6 policemen committing suicide due to pressures from policing the protests.
10th June: With the peace continuing, it was announced that Erdoğan would meet protesters on the Wednesday to come to a solution over the park. On this day, Gül also finally signed the bill that restricted the sale of alcohol from 10pm to 6am. Kılıçdaoğlu accused Erdoğan of deliberately stoking tensions while actor Memet Ali Alabora saying he had wrongly been accused of instigating the riots.
11th June: After sunrise, police attempted to re-take Taksim Square, breaking down barriers and firing tear gas to clear the square, but according to spokesmen only to remove banners. Protesters joined hands to prevent police entering the park as Istanbul Governor Mutlu had said police wouldn't enter the park. Photos and videos were shown of a small group throwing Molotov cocktails at police riot vehicles, but the identities of these were fiercely argued as they appeared to have high quality gas masks and were not attacked by police. Lawyers were also arrested during the day at the Palace of Justice, shocking the nation.
12th June: Clashes continued between police and protesters on this rainy Wednesday, though tensions were not as high as the day before with protesters aiding a policeman injured by falling wood. Other events of the day included the fining of TV stations who had broadcasted live coverage of the protests, 2000 lawyers protesting against of their colleague, and an impromptu concert by Davide Martello in Taksim Square using a piano with which he is travelling the world.
13th June: Prime Minister Erdoğan gives the protesters a final warning to clear the park, asking mothers to take their children out of the park. This only served to bring mothers out to protest in Taksim. Another protester, Ethem Sarısülük, today lost his life after being on life support for almost two weeks after being shot in the head by a policeman in Ankara.
14th June: Erdoğan meets representatives of protesters from the park, although due to the odd mix of this group, including 'Turkey's Got Talent' judge Hülya Avşar, few take these completely seriously.
15th June: With many thousands once again heading to Taksim and Gezi Park on the Saturday, the festival atmosphere starts once again as the public enjoys the sunny weather in the park. At the same time in Ankara, the first of the AKP rallies took place, with municipality buses taking AKP supporters to the rally area to make sure attendance was strong. In the evening, the peaceful atmosphere in Istanbul was suddenly ended by police, who forced men, women and children out of the park using teargas, forcing people away and into hotels that were also gassed.
16th June: Police cordoned Taksim Square to prevent protesters entering, as municipal workers began to take away trees and items left by those in the park in the mayhem of the previous evening. The second of the AKP rallies took place in Istanbul, with public buses and ferries again being used to take people to the rally site in the west of the city. Police intervention continued over Turkey, with even the funeral hearse of Ethem Sarısülük that was attempting to get to the place where he was shot was forced away with tear gas.
17th June: With police still guarding Taksim Square, despite it being "open to the public", protesters took their grievances to other places around Istanbul, including Abbasağa Park. Protests continued in other major cities as several unions went on strike, with police intervention occurring to ward of protesters. On this day, a new form of pacifist protest begun as a man stood motionless facing the Turkish flag in Taksim Square for hours, starting the twitter trend #duranadam (standing man).
18th June: Following the duran adam protest of the previous day, more people took to the streets to passively protest against police violence. Standing man protests took place in Taksim, Troy, Ankara and Antakya, where protesters had been killed. Small demonstrations also took place in front of media organisations that had not broadcasted protests. In Taksim, a small group decided to stand against these protests wearing "standing against the standing man" t-shirts. Pro-government newspaper Takvim published a fake interview with Christian Amanpour, who denounced the newspaper in a tweet to her followers.
19th-20th June: After 4 weeks of police interventions where vast amounts of tear gas was used against protesters, the police force announce a tender to buy 100,000 more tear gas canisters, in part due to the heavy use. In addition to this, the tender also extends to look to purchase 60 more water cannon tanks, hinting that the police are looking to increase their force against the protests.
22nd-23rd June: With the weekend commencing once again, people flocked to Taksim Square for a peaceful protest against police violence and to pay respect to those who had died in the past three weeks of protests. Protesters threw carnations at police and on police vehicles to show their peaceful intentions for the day, however once again police intervened into the group, using water cannons and tear gas to disperse the peaceful crowds. Protests also occurred in other major Turkish cities, including the capital Ankara.
24th June: Many Turks were outraged when it was announced that the police officer who had shot Ethem Sarısülük in the head, resulting in his death, had been released on the grounds of 'self-defence'. Protesters took to Twitter and Facebook, as well as the streets, to show their anger that Sarısülük's killer had been released. The message shared by protesters in many languages read: "My name is Ethem Sarısülük. I was unarmed when police shot me in my head. The court released my slaughterer."
25th-30th June: After a quiet week on the streets of Turkey, protesters again came back out at the weekend to show that their movement was far from dead. On the Saturday, the protest focused on the death of an 18 year old protester killed in an event in Lice, eastern Turkey. Thousands of people walked down Istiklal Caddesi to pay their respects. On the Sunday, tens of thousands of people took part in the annual Pride festival, an LGBT event that occurs worldwide. This year's march however was considerably larger than previous years, helped in part by the greatly reduced fear of the public to protest in the streets.
1st-7th July: The end of the fifth and beginning of the sixth weeks again saw sporadic confrontations between police and protesters, which culminated in more use of tear gas and rubber bullets being used. Throughout the week, numerous universities across Turkey held graduation ceremonies , and many graduates took the opportunity to show their support for the protests with banners and placards. One of the most creative was from Istanbul Technical University's Marine Faculty who spelt out DirenGezi with semaphore. A large "Man of gas” festival took place in Kadıköy on the Sunday, attended by thousands. The Turkish Women's Basketball team staged their own protest after a match by unveiling Turkish flags of Atatürk.
8th-14th July: On the Monday, angry scenes took place at Istanbul Technical University's graduation ceremony when a group of pro-Erdoğan supports entered the ceremony area, chanting pro-government slogans and throwing stones at students who had joined the trend of opening amusing banners showing support for protests. Events on the streets of Istanbul and Ankara remained tense, as the father of a man seen attacking protesters with a machete apologised to the public. On the 10th, it was announced that sadly a fifth person had died following the protests. 19 year old Ali İsmail Korkmaz died after being attacked by a group of people armed with weapons. Some footage that could find his killer mysteriously disappeared.
15th-21st July: Information obtained from police sources has shown evidence that young Turkish protester Ali İsmail Korkmaz was killed by a special police team. A police officer talking to Aydinlik newspaper has explained that a new police team named ‘Sledgehammer’ by the police force in the Turkish city of Eskişehir. The duty of this team was to attack and beat citizens who had joined the protests. Large, well-built policemen from the Anti-Terror Squad were chosen specifically for this duty. These officers, dressed in plain clothes, made their way to areas where protesters and police were clashing and beat any protesters they could catch, leaving them lying rather than arresting them.
22nd-28th July: With events on the streets quieting down, but with a heavy police presence still seen in Taksim Square, news began to surface as to the repercussions suffered by those involved in the protests. The Turkish Journalist Union announced that at least 72 journalists had been sacked or forced to resign as a result of their coverage of the protests, whilst a report by the main opposition party the CHP states that 64 journalists had been imprisoned, many on charges not related to journalism, such as being a member of an armed terrorist group.
29th July-4th Aug: Taksim Square found itself once again at the centre of attention on the evening of Wednesday the 31st when police used water cannons and plastic bullets to prevent parents of a 14 year old injured during protests from making a public statement about the state of their son. In scenes similar to those at the start of the protests, police were seen chasing protesters in the back streets of Beyoğlu. Elsewhere, pregnant women came out onto the streets to protest the comments of a lawyer and Sufi thinker Ömer Tuğrul İnançer who said on state broadcaster TRT that the display of bellies of pregnant women is "disgraceful. It is not realism, it is immorality.”