[Peace] Public Meeting: Revolt at Taksim

[jesse phillippe]

*REVOLT AT TAKSIM
*

Join the Champaign-Urbana branch of the ISO for a public meeting about the
revolt in Turkey.

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.

*When: Monday, June 24, at 7:00pm
*

*Where: Champaign Public Library, Conference Room 215
*


**


http://socialistworker.org/2013/06/19/resisting-repression-in-turkey
Resisting repression in Turkey
June 19, 2013

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.

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.

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.

Before the strike, Kivanç Eliaçik, 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.

[image: Thousands of protesters respond to police efforts to evict the Gezi
Park encampment (Gregg Carlstrom)]Thousands of protesters respond to police
efforts to evict the Gezi Park encampment (Gregg Carlstrom)

THE PEOPLE'S resistance and mobilization is in its 20th day. Since 8
p.m.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.

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."

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.

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.

On Saturday, 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 8 p.m., police
attacked Gezi Park with tear gas, injured hundreds of people and destroyed
all tents.

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.

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.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

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.

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.

DISK and KESK have now declared a strike and called their members to join
demonstrations to protest against the government.

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.

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.

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.

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.
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