<div dir="ltr"><p><strong><span style="font-size:x-large">REVOLT AT TAKSIM<br></span></strong></p>
<p>Join the Champaign-Urbana branch of the ISO for a public
meeting about the revolt in Turkey.</p>
<p>A Turkish student will present on the
situation in Turkey, in which a general revolt calling for
Prime Minister Erdogan to step down has developed out of
what was initially a protest to save Taksim Gezi Park (one
of the few green spaces left in Istanbul) from
demolition.</p>
<p><strong><span style="font-size:larger">When: Monday,
June 24, at <span tabindex="0" class=""><span class="">7:00pm</span></span><br>
</span></strong></p>
<p><strong><span style="font-size:larger">Where: Champaign
Public Library, Conference Room 215<br></span></strong></p><p><br><strong><span style="font-size:larger"></span></strong></p><p><br></p><p><a href="http://socialistworker.org/2013/06/19/resisting-repression-in-turkey" target="_blank">http://socialistworker.org/2013/06/19/resisting-repression-in-turkey</a></p>
<h1>Resisting repression in
Turkey</h1>
<div>June 19, 2013</div>
<div>
<p>Protests are continuing across Turkey in the wake of a
government assault on demonstrators occupying Gezi Park in
central Istanbul on Saturday, June 15. Riot police used
water cannons and an arsenal of tear gas to clear the park
in central Istanbul, whose planned demolition to clear the
way for a shopping mall served as the spark for a rebellion
that has broadened since the final days of May into a
challenge to the Turkish government.</p>
<p>Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and
Development Party (AKP) have continued their reign of
repression since the weekend. Police have continued to
attack demonstrations; security forces arrested dozens of
people associated with the protests on charges of terrorism;
and non-uniformed thugs, working in collaboration with
police, are reportedly carrying out violent assaults in
major cities.</p>
<p>Two union federations--the Confederation of Revolutionary
Trade Unions of Turkey (DISK), representing workers in
private industry, and the Confederation of Public Workers
Unions (KESK), representing public-sector workers--and
several individual unions responded to the violence with a
call for a strike and marches in major cities the following
Monday, June 17. Press reports said thousands honored the
strike call.</p>
<p>Before the strike, <span>Kivanç
Eliaçik</span>, director of the International
Relations Department for DISK, made this call for
international solidarity with the democracy demonstrations
and the general strike by Turkish workers.</p>
</div>
<p><span style="width:330px"><span><img src="http://socialistworker.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/330/images/9060163146_fb0b3ea605_b.sm_.jpg" alt="Thousands of protesters respond to police efforts to
evict the Gezi Park encampment (Gregg Carlstrom)" title="Thousands of protesters respond to police efforts to
evict the Gezi Park encampment (Gregg Carlstrom)" height="217" width="330"></span><span>Thousands
of protesters respond to police efforts to evict the Gezi
Park encampment (Gregg Carlstrom)</span></span></p>
<p>THE PEOPLE'S resistance and mobilization is in its 20th
day. Since <span tabindex="0" class=""><span class="">8 p.m.</span></span> last night (June 15), in Taksim Square
and many districts, there have been non-stop clashes with
police. Police attacked peaceful protestors with excessive
violence, with plastic bullets, pepper spray and tear gas,
water cannons and water with liquid pepper gas.</p>
<p>Early on Friday morning, Prime Minister Erdogan was
forced to meet with Taksim Solidarity representatives,
including DISK General Secretary Arzu Çerkezolu, the
Turkish Doctors Association, the Turkish Architecture
Association and other mass organizations to find a
solution. But the prime minister was very angry and
aggressive, and after the meeting, he targeted Arzu--the
first woman general secretary of DISK--claiming that she
was "an ultra unionist."</p>
<p>After the meeting, the government's spokesperson stated
that they would respect the court's decision that stopped
the construction of the shopping mall in Gezi Park, the
only public green space in central Istanbul.</p>
<p>However, this is no longer enough. If the government had
stated this 20 days ago, that might have been a solution.
But in those 20 days, five people died, almost 7,000 people
have been injured. Fifteen people lost their eyes. There
are 50 severely injured people. Thousands of people were
taken into custody. Across Turkey's cities, millions poured
into the streets, demanding the resignation of the
government. The government is now trying to limit all
mobilizations over the Gezi Park issue and to make
propaganda to separate "innocent-pacifist
environmentalists" from the "marginal, illegal
groups." People oppose and object to this
characterization.</p>
<p><span tabindex="0" class=""><span class="">On Saturday</span></span>, Taksim Solidarity decided to normalize the
area. It cleaned some barricades and decided to establish
one symbolic tent, removing hundreds of others. The
platform decided to continue the mobilization with peaceful
mass demonstrations. However, despite this, at <span tabindex="0" class=""><span class="">8 p.m.</span></span>,
police attacked Gezi Park with tear gas, injured hundreds of
people and destroyed all tents.</p>
<p>Since then, spontaneously, hundreds of thousands poured
onto the streets in all parts of Istanbul, closing traffic
on the main international motorway and marching to Taksim
Square. Tens of thousands marched into the Asian side over
the Bosphorus Bridge. They clashed with police and passed
all the police barricades.</p>
<p>Police forces normally have numbers on their helmets, but
over the past two days, the helmet numbers have been
missing, allowing the police to do whatever they liked.
They even followed protesters trying to hide in shopping
malls and five-star hotels. They fired pepper gas into
hotels, cafes and houses. There was no limit to the police
violence.</p>
<p>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -</p>
<p>CLASHES STILL continue in many districts, and people
insist on pouring into the streets and marching over the
police by using ferries, buses, cars and on foot. People
are only using peaceful means, protesting against the
police, blowing car horns and throwing the pepper gas
canisters back at the police. Last night, one 55-year-old
lady died in Istanbul from a heart attack after the police
attacked with pepper gas. Today, there are many badly
injured people, and there may be more dead.</p>
<p>Clashes have spread to Ankara and Adana. In Ankara, since
last night, clashes have been continuing. Today, there was
a funeral of a young man, Ethem Sarisülük, who
was killed last week by a police bullet--it was recorded by
TV cameras. Police even attacked the funeral with water
cannons. There are mass demonstrations in Izmir, Eskiehir,
Bursa, Trabzon and even strongholds of the Government such
as Kayseri, Konya.</p>
<p>DISK and KESK have now declared a strike and called their
members to join demonstrations to protest against the
government.</p>
<p>Prime Minister Erdogan's reaction has been to polarize
people and suppress the mobilization with violence. He has
also mobilized his own supporters. Yesterday, he had a mass
meeting in Ankara, and he declared that he would clean
Taksim Square. Just two hours later, police started
intervention. His government uses public sources to mobilize
their supporters with free transportation and free
meals.</p>
<p>Erdogan has targeted CNN, BBC and other international
media channels with fabricated news, blaming foreign and
domestic groups determined to stop the rise of the Turkish
state as a global power. He is threatening protesters and
making propaganda with fabricated lies, claiming people are
looters, anti-religion and anti-nationalist.</p>
<p>Erdogan's aim is to consolidate his support. He had
almost 50 percent of the vote in the last election. But his
AKP-led government is a coalition of different groups. It
is estimated that political Islamists have almost 10
percent of the vote. People who vote for center-right
secular parties voted for him for economic stability. He
knows that he may lose this support as a result of this
mobilization and his authoritarian rule, as well as the
stagnation of the economy over the past year. Also his
adventurous Syrian policy has conflicted with U.S. policy,
threatening the loss of U.S. support, too.</p>
<p>Hundreds of thousands of people are resisting excessive
police violence in Istanbul and in almost all cities. This
is the final phase of Prime Minister Erdogan. We call for
international support for the cause of the people.</p></div>