A Blog on Articles on the Gezi Parki and the Uprising in Turkey

http://geziparkarticles.blogspot.com/

We introduce you a blog containing various articles from various left political tendencies analyzing the Gezi Park events.

If you'd like to contribute please send your article to: occupiedtaksim@gmail.com

KKE: On the Arrests of Turkish Militants

The KKE denounces the ongoing state repression and the persecution against organizations of the people’s movement, cadres and members of parties and organizations on the part of the Erdogan government.

We denounce, in particular, the new police operation in Gezi Park, which led to the mass arrests of members of the CC and other cadres of the CP of Turkey, the Party of Labour (EMEP) and mass organizations.

The representatives of capital and its power are deeply mistaken if they believe that it is possible to suppress in this way the people’s resistance against exploitation, oppression and repression, which go hand in hand with capitalism

The KKE expresses its determined solidarity with the all the struggling Turkish people. We demand the immediate release of those arrested and the removal of every restriction on free trade union and political activity.

ATHENS 11/7/2013 
THE PRESS OFFICE OF THE CC OF THE KKE

We Lost Ali!

Ali Ismail Korkmaz, a 19 year old university student was attacked by "unidentified" perpetrators on 2nd of June, after running away from the police attack to a peaceful protest in Eskisehir. From that day to this he was in coma.

We lost him today.

He was killed by the "heroes of the Prime Minister", as Erdogan chooses to define the "unidentified".

Whether the police or the "White Youth" of Erdogan killed him, the peoples of Turkey know who the real murderers are.

"Those who died,
                        died in fight;
                                        were buried to the sun.
We have no time to mourn for them!

                        There is a raid
                                         a raid to the sun!
                        We will conquer the sun
                                        seizure is imminent!

                                                                               Nâzim Hikmet

6th of July, Events

19.00 Following the press declaration of the Taksim Solidarity, tens of thousands of people will meet at Gezi Park.

17.00 People of Kadikoy and the Yogurtcu Park Forum will gather around the Boga Heykeli (Bull's Statue) in Kadikoy and take the ferry to the European Side to attend the Gezi Park demonstration.

17.00 People of Besiktas, Carsi and the Abbasaga Park Forum will gather around the Kartal Heykeli (Eagle's Statue) in Besiktas, to march to Gezi Park.

17.00 Women will rally against sexual abuse under custody, gathering in front of the Galatasaray Highschool and marching to the Taksim Square.

13.30 Human Rights Association will protest the "F Type Prisons" and solitary confinement in front of the Galatasaray Highschool on Istiklal Avenue.

Taksim Solidarity: We Are Going to Our Park!

We are going to our Park!

4 July 2013

We are going to our park to deliver the court decision by hand, which cancels the project aimed to disidentify, depopulate and concretize Gezi Park, to the ones who shut the park down to the people. We are going to our park to open its doors to its real owners, so to everyone again.

With all the colors that make us who we are, with unwavering common sense, endurance, determination and incredible creativity, we are still together in every sphere of life.

We have not given up on our demands and gains and we will never do so.

To commemorate our losses, to remind our demands and to condemn the violence that is yet to exist in the entire Turkey, we meet on Saturday (July, 6) at 7 PM in Taksim Square with justified decision of the court in our hands.

Hurray our Solidarity…

Everywhere Taksim Everywhere Resistance…

TAKSIM SOLIDARITY

A Poem from Nazim Hikmet - Since I've been locked up

In solidarity with all the imprisoned comrades in Turkey and all over the world!

And in solidarity with Kostas Sakkas who is on hunger strike since 4th of June.

"Since I’ve been locked up,

The earth went around the sun ten times.

If you ask the sun: “No big deal, just a microscopic run…”
If you ask me: “Ten years of my life…”

I had a pencil the year I was locked up
I wasted it away just in a week of writing

If you ask the pencil: “My whole life…”
If you ask me: “C’mon, it is just a week…”

Of murder, doing his time, Osman; since I’ve been locked up
Filled the seven and a half years and got out.
Wandered around a while, end up in the joint again of smuggling, and again filled the six months and got out.
His letter arrived yesterday; got married and expecting a child in spring…

The children turned 10, who were conceived the year I was locked up.
And the quaking, long legged peers,
Have already become one apiece wide-rumped, repose mares.
Although the olive saplings; still saplings, still children.

Since I’ve been locked up, new squares have been opened in my far away town,
And there, lives my household, on a street I do not know, in a house I have not seen.

It was cotton white, the bread; the year I was locked up,
Then it was rationed.
Here inside,
People shot each other of for a fist full of black loaf
Now again it is free; but dark and tasteless

The year I was locked up, the second has not yet started,
The ovens were not lit up in Dachov, the atom bomb was not yet thrown to Hiroshima.
The time flew by, like the blood from slit throat of a child.
Then that chapter was closed, now speaks the American dollar of the third.
But the sun has shined, since I’ve been locked up,
And from the edge of the darkness, they have risen up halfway, pushing themselves up through the sidewalks

The Earth has gone around the sun ten times, since I’ve been locked up,
And I again repeat my words with the same passion,
“For they;
are the ants on the soil,
the fish in the sea,
as many as the birds in the sky.
Fainthearted, brave, ignorant and child,
And they are who doom and create,
Whose adventures are within the songs”

And all the other,
As of imprisoned me, spending ten years
Is just talk in vain…"

                                                                                           Nazim Hikmet

An Analysis on the Movement, "Taksim Rising" by Marienna Pope-Weidemann

The occupation of Gezi Park inIstanbul on 28^th May has blossomed into the largest civil uprising in modern Turkish history. 

The immediate catalyst for the protest was the planned demolition of Gezi Park, one of the last public spaces in increasingly gentrified Istanbul. The movement grew rapidly after an unprovoked attack by police killed three and injured thousands. Protests and occupations have since erupted in over 50 Turkish towns and cities.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Edroğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP), in power since 2002, built its initial support base by drawing together marginalised rural Muslims,a new Islamic bourgeoisie and urban Islamic community networks. Those networks had developed as a response to the social welfare failures of the secular Kemalist regime, which emulated Western capitalist economics. The AKP was meant to reclaim Turkey from Western interests. 

But following a split from the Islamic party, the AKP abandoned its anti-imperialist principles, as well as any opposition to neoliberalism, and clamoured to join the EU. It delivered the boom it had promised: construction, tourism, exportindustries and ‘Islamic finance’ all flourished. On the very day protests began, Jeffrey Sachs was praising Turkey’s economic success. Like they praised Egypt and Tunisia, before popular uprisings set the record straight. 

As with every neoliberal ‘miracle’, it was paid for by breaking the backs of the poor. The Turkish boom represented the extension of work hours, an growing informal sector, wage repression  and soaring inequality. Instead of representing the poor, the Erdogan administration demonised and alienated them.

The official demands of the movement are restricted to the protection of public spaces and civil rights, the resignation of those who ordered the violence and the release of political prisoners. But the root causes of inequality and exploitation stretch far deeper. The Taksim movement is broad, featuring LGBT, socialist, environmentalist, religious and secular as well as numerous ethnic groups. It has the potential to generalise its aims and mount a meaningful challenge to the state. Noam Chomsky has called it “a beacon of hope and opportunity which deserves the strongest possible support one can offer.”

The Turkish uprising takes place in the context of growing international resistance to neoliberal policies which are now being rammed home in the wake of the global economic crisis. Resistance must continue until the state bends to the will of the people or is broken by it. In the meantime we should offer our solidarity to, and take inspiration from, the occupiers in Gezi Park.

                                                                                        - Marienna Pope-Weidemann

Introducing the Turkish Police - 1 - TOMA

TOMA

The abbreviation for "Social Intervention Vehicle".

For those who are not familiar with what the Turkish police utilizes, besides resorting the primitive means of torture, we introduce you one of the easiest vehicles to operate to disperse the crowds. Furthermore, not knowing what exactly a "social intervention" is, we recommend you some footage showing how these vehicles are put into operation.

Here are some features of TOMA.

• Water Cannon System
• 60 m water stream range
• 3 different operational modes: short/long/continuous pulse
• Different combinations of water, dye, tear gas and foam mixtures
• Vehicle Protection Systems
• High ballistic protection
• Cabin protection against tear gas
• Bulldozer
• CCTV system, video recorder system
• Protection Cages
• Fire ertinguishing foam nozzles

Also you can run people over with it, if you are a salaried monkey.

Or else, pose for the cameras:

Sometimes their pour acid in it and claim it to be "medicine".

Or to water cannon the handicapped!

Or just to express their hatred to the people.

But guys, don't get demoralized no TOMA can stand before the anger of the people. We introduce you the POMA (Intervention Vehicle to the Police):

And another invention, People's TOMA, aka TOMA-HALK:

[Updated] New Arrests in Ankara

[10.56] The prosecutor did not allow the families to see their children. Families are now heading towards the prison to see them for the last time.

[10.55] "The Reckoning Day Will Be Horrifying for You!" chants the families and the friends of the arrestees, as they are being sent to prison.

[10.50] Arrestees are now being sent to the Sincan F Type Prison.

[08.30] Reports indicate that the number of police officers in the courtyard of the Ankara Courthouse is doubled.

[08.35] Urgent Call from Kazova Tekstil Workers!! 

"We, as Kazova Tekstil workers have just occupied our factory. We call for our people and the press to come here to support us!"

[08.30] 3 arrests in Adana, are being reported.

[08.15] Families and friends of the arrestees are still waiting in the courtyard of the Ankara Courthouse to see their children one last time before they are sent to the Sincan F Type Prison.

[07.45] The police is filming the families and friends of the arrestees gathered in front of the Ankara Courthouse.

[07.40] The Turkish police smiles in front of the families of the arrestees, right after 13 has been arrested!

The families of the arrestees chant, "The Murderers Will Face the Reckoning!"


[07.30] Out of 19 who stood trial: 13 has been arrested, 5 released on parole, 1 release in Ankara without any tangible evidence.

Total number of arrestees reached 35 in total, in Ankara.

Live Stream from the Ankara Courthouse: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/ankaraeylemvakti

The Flame of Our Hearts Will Melt the Prison Walls Down!

Will be updated!

22 Arrested in Ankara, 9 Arrested in Istanbul

Imperious cries of revenge is finally being put into operation.

22 demonstrators who were detained after the Gezi Parki incidents in Ankara and 9 in Istanbul were taken to court and sent to prison last night.

The Flame of Our Hearts Will Melt the Prison Walls Down!

The Heoric Turkish Police, from the Turkish Media

As if there are no hundreds of hours of footage of what had happened during the clashes all over Turkey under their hands, the STV, a television channel known for their sympathy towards the government, the police and especially towards fabricated news, decided to fabricate its own soap oprah covering the Gezi Parki incidents.

We share these very realistic and artistic scenes with no comments and no subtitles, as we believe that ignominy is universal.

Raise the Solidarity, Commemorate the Fallen Comrades!

"Those who died,
                        died in fight;
                                        were buried to the sun.
We have no time to mourn for them!

                        There is a raid
                                         a raid to the sun!
                        We will conquer the sun
                                        seizure is imminent!

                                                                               Nâzim Hikmet


They, who died not in fear, cried out their last breaths altogether, fighting the monster!
They, who died in agony, smiled for the last time confronting the enemy!
They, who died were Mehmet, Ethem and Abdullah, died climbing up the stairs to the sun!

Let us walk past them, until we reach the horrizon! Let us take the torch out of their hands, and carry it on

We call everyone to commemorate all our fallen comrades in the Taksim Square, on 22nd, at 7 pm.

Occupied Taksim

Press Release from Taksim Solidarity

We are meeting in Taksim Square Saturday 7 PM with carnations in our hands.

21 June 2013

Against all the suppression, our song of freedom we created in the heaven of solidarity and democracy in Taksim Square and in the Gezi Park pervaded to the entire world.

Forums that emerged in all the corners of our country, in every park and in every square represent our common will; they have become the lanterns brighten the path of democracy, peace and solidarity in utter darkness.

We say it once again; with all the colors that make us who we are, with unwavering common sense, endurance, determination and incredible creativity, we are still together in every sphere of life.

We have not given up on our demands and gains and we will never do so.

To commemorate our losses, to remind our demands, and to condemn the violence which is yet to exist in Mersin, Ankara and in the entire Turkey, we meet on Saturday at 7 PM in Taksim Square with flowers in our hands.

Long live our Solidarity …

Everywhere Taksim, Everywhere Resistance…

TAKSIM SOLIDARITY 

Music By Fazil Say With Striking Footage From the Gezi Protests [Video]

T pianist Fazil Say has composed a heart moving piece with striking footage from the Gezi Protests.

The lyrics are by the 16th century Bektashi dervish Muhyiddin Abdal, yet surprisingly relevant.

"They spoke of humanity,
now I know what it means.
They talked of life,
now I know what it is."

New Gatherings in Istanbul

After the Gezi Park was re-occupied by the police, inhabitants decided to gather in local parks.

Here are the addresses.

The Besiktas gathering will be held at the Abbasaga Park at 21.00

The Elmadag-Harbiye gathering will be held at the Macka Park at 21.00

The Kadikoy gathering will be held at the Yogurtcu Park at 21.00

The Umraniye gathering will be held at the Carsi Park at 21.00

#direngezi #occupiedtaksim

Testimonial of the Police Torture

Footage from Izmir.

Solidarity Message from Subcomandante Marcos

To the all citizens of the world,

Fellows, Sisters, Women, Men, Homeless People, Poor People,

They asked us how many people the Zapatas are and we told them there are hundreds of thousands out there who are fighting for their rights and freedoms. Now today, we hear that on the Anatolian lands, the land of Turks, Kurds, Circassians, Armenians, the Lazs, and many more than i can count, thousands of masked people who wants to live in honor are hailing for freedom. Like Kurdish fellows who were in an honorable fight. We knew that we were not alone, there were millions of us out there and we weren’t alone since we have started fighting. Today, we see that we are increasing. We hear that people in Turkey shout out “Ya Basta!” and they are in a riot to defend their honor against to the oppressive ruling of Turkish government. The Great Istanbul, the capital of masters throughout history, is now the capital of riot, and it has become the voice of oppressed ones. We see that on the streets of the great Istanbul are now the capital of women, children, men, homosexuals, Kurds, Armenians, Christians and Muslims. The ones who have been humiliated, oppressed, ignored for decades by their government are now saying “We Are Here.” We are thrilled!

We have never wanted a new governance, a new government or a new prime minister. We just asked for respect. We wanted the goverment to respect our requests of freedom, democracy and justice. People of Turkey are demanding for these and resisting for days: Now starting from the ingoing goverment, and all the governments who are going to be in charge, we want you to respect our requests of freedom, democracy and justice! And if you don’t do that, we, who are the owners of rights and freedoms, will stand against you, we’ll fight on the streets until you learn to respect. We don’t want too much, we just want you to respect our rights. Because we know how we want to live, we know well how we want to govern and be governed. We want to govern ourself and decide about ourself.

And we are greeting people of Turkey who are fighting for an honorable life from here, and we want to tell that the fire of riot has warmed Chiapas. Solidarity with the ones who saved the history from past and future and moved to present.

Solidarity to the free people of Taksim,
Solidarity to the EZLN,

United we stand,

Resist!