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Ankara Stands Solid, Kugulu Becomes Symbol Of Resistance

By Countercurrents.org

15 June 2013
Countercurrents.org

‘Kugulu Park has become an important symbol. After all, social struggles mostly operate through symbols,' says Cenk Yigiter, a representative of Egitim-Sen. DAILY NEWS photos, Selahattin SÖNMEZ

Kugulu Park has become an important symbol. DAILY NEWS photos, Selahattin SÖNMEZ

Ankara 's Kugulu Park has become the scene of the grandest rallies organized in solidarity with Taksim Gezi Park , and has also become a symbol of the resistance. Nisan Su Aras reported [1]:

While Gezi Park became the birthplace of an outcry of the people, where a naive demand to save trees transformed into a country-wide platform to voice objections, Ankara 's Kugulu Park , like Kizilay Square , has become the scene of the grandest rallies organized in solidarity with Gezi.

Over the past two weeks, Ankara 's solidarity protests have remained solid, despite fluctuating quantities, with masses gathering every day and night. The outshining of the two parks appears to be more than just a coincidence, as they have already turned into symbols of the resistance.

On June 13, it was the academics' turn to shoulder the resistance. Some 100 academics marched to Kugulu Park , while paying tribute to Ethem Sarisülük, a blue-collar worker whose brain-death has been confirmed after allegedly having been shot by a police officer in Ankara , and two other protesters, Abdullah Cömert and Mehmet Ayvalitas, who also lost their lives during protests.

Under normal circumstances, such a protest would have taken place in Kizilay, a frequent venue for masses to demonstrate for decades.

Starting from the early days of the protests, there has been a division between Kugulu and Kizilay, where two separate rallies were held each night, unlike Istanbul 's geographical advantage of uniting Gezi and Taksim rallies. Kizilay has been more of a clutter where different organizations, most of them politicized, gather and where the police intervene more often, while Kugulu was immune to intervention for several nights and the protests often took the form of an open-air party. Yet, there is no such immunity for Kugulu anymore since a June 5 raid by the police.

“The park has been an important symbol. After all, social struggles mostly operate through symbols,” Cenk Yigiter, a representative of the Education and Science Employees Union (Egitim-Sen) universities office, who has been present at the protests from day one, said during the rally by academics.

While still admitting that academics in Turkey are known to be timid, Sibel Özbudun, an anthropologist at Hacettepe University , said their participation was significant. “Today, if even the academics are out on the streets, this really is a sign that the circle of fear is broken,” she said.

Taking control of Kugulu is no easy task. The police have attempted to remove the tents on numerous occasions, and as of June 13, the tents of the protesters were seized. Mother Nature was not merciful either, as it rained thunderously on June 13, making it a new challenge to stand their ground.

After midnight, the police intervention began as usual, where a handful of survivors of the rain were confronted by squads of policemen using tear gas and water cannons. It has been reported that some protesters were taken into custody, while it was attempted to remove the press from the scene.

What makes these protests so different from other protests will for sure linger on.

“This is different from the movements of our era, in terms of form and practice. Theoretically too,” said Oktay Etiman, who actively participated during the 1968 student movement and was jailed on political grounds.

“The main difference between our movement and this is that we struggled to go among peasants and workers to make a difference externally, to bring consciousness. In 1971, this took the shape of an armed struggle,” Etiman said. However, this time, the protests of this generation were internally motivated and are peaceful, spontaneous and naïve, though very persistent against force, he added.

Since the protests swept the streets on many cities, with masses gathering, most see it rather as an underestimation to call them protests.

“This is a civil movement, a real civil movement. This has emerged for the first time in the history of Turkey , and maybe even in the history of the Ottoman Empire ,” Etiman said. On the other hand, Özbudun calls this “a serious leap of consciousness.”

This movement has indeed its own traits, but beyond everything, people who take to the streets now know that they will not walk alone.

Gezi Park protesters hold forums

Following the government's commitment to conform to a court decision that would suspend the redevelopment plans for Gezi Park , the protesters have formed discussion forums in order to decide their next move. [2] 

Representatives of the Taksim Solidarity Platform, who participated in a late night meeting with prime minister Erdogan on June 13, detailed the content of the negotiations and explained the government's messages. 

Taksim Solidarity Platform Spokesperson Bilge Seçkin said that the protesters would themselves decide the next step. “We will discuss it by forming seven different forums which will show the tendency. Everyone will have an equal right to speak,” she said, adding that the platform wished for the emergence of a common will after the discussions. 

“We are at a critical threshold and this is a place which everyone came to with their own free will. We want them to express their own will,” she said. Seçkin also added that the discussions did not have a deadline and would continue until a common decision was reached. 

The protesters also commemorated with one minute of silence the three victims of the protest. Ethem Sarisülük, a protester allegedly shot by the police in Ankara , was declared brain dead and his life was severely at risk at the time of the commemoration. 

Meanwhile, a group calling themselves “Anti-capitalist Muslims” performed their second Friday prayers at the park, while protesters formed a human chain around them to prevent people disrupting their worship. 

Scholar Ihsan Eliaçik, who is the leading figure of the group, said they were showing a human stance by coming to Gezi Park in support of the protests. “We will still come even though those who oppressed us were here,” he said.

Source:

[1] Hürriyet Daily News,

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/ankara-stands-solid-kugulu-becomes-symbol-of-resistance.aspx?pageID=238&nID=48844&NewsCatID=341

[2] http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/gezi-park-protesters-hold-forums-to-discuss-next-move-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=48857&NewsCatID=341

 

 




 

 


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