It seemed as if the world had entered the age of the austerity riots. And then Istanbul
erupted. Let there be no mistake, Istanbul cannot be lumped in with Athens, Barcelona,
Lisbon or New York. What is happening in Turkey is the flip-side of the anti-capitalist
coin. It is an uprising against development. It is a street battle for cities that belong
to people and not capital. It is resistance against an authoritarian regime emboldened by
an economic boom. What we are seeing unfolding in the streets of Istanbul is a convergence
between Turkey?s small but growing anti-authoritarian left who has been organizing various
campaigns of social relevance in the past years and a large section of the urban
population loyal to the Kemalist ideals of modernism, secularism and nationalism.
This being said, the situation in Turkey is extremely complex and necessitates an
understanding of many different political situations that have been developing over the
past decade.
Taksim
As many may already know, the origin of the current uprising stems from the proposed
development of a park near Taksim Square, at the heart of Istanbul. The development of
Gezi Park is only one part of a massive urban renewal project the Turkish prime minister,
Recep Tayyip Erdo?an, has put forth for the city and country as a whole. It Includes
gentrifying schemes for the cities poorest neighborhoods such as Tarlaba??, the
construction of a third bridge to connect the two continents that Istanbul spans and even
a massive plan to open up a third channel connecting the Black Sea to the Marmara Sea, to
facilitate containerized shipping, which has been referred to as Erdo?an?s ?crazy
project?. The neighborhood of Taksim is where a great number of city development projects
are happening and where there is a rich tradition of rebellion and protest. To put things
into context it is useful to look at the significance of Taksim Square as a point of
rebellion and convergence.
On May 1st 1977, half a million workers and revolutionaries flooded Taksim Square for one
of the most epic demonstrations to date. This demonstration came six years after a bloody
coup wherein three Turkish student revolutionaries, accused of being enemies of the state,
were hung by a military tribunal. Their memory immortalized, the Turkish left picked up
from where the executed revolutionaries had left off plunging into the seventies with
force and multiplying in numbers. During that year?s demonstrations, 34 people were killed
in the square by what is believed to be paramilitary gunmen on roofs as well as during the
ensuing panic. In addition to being the gateway to Beyo?lu, the most culturally vibrant
part of the Istanbul, with probably more bars and cafes per square meter than any other
city in Europe, Taksim Square has also carried this particular tragic memory since the
1977 massacre.
The riots that have taken place most Maydays in Istanbul over the past seven years have
all centered around protesters attempting to reach Taksim Square. The first of these
clashes was in 2007 when the Turkish Left wanted to commemorate the massacre on its 30th
anniversary. The state prevented this and far-left militants fought back in the streets
with molotov cocktails and rocks. The situation was the same up until 2011, two years ago
when the government finally realized its mistake and allowed the left to have the square
for the day.
But things have developed since two years ago, and Recep Tayyip Erdo?an?s AKP government
decided to introduce their massive urban renewal project for Istanbul which also included
a re-visioning of the square. Under the rhetoric of making the square a pedestrian zone,
the Erdo?an government (which is also in charge of the municipality of Istanbul) adopted
plans, without any input from residents, to dismantle large swathes of Taksim to construct
various shopping malls and development projects for the rich. The battle over holding
demonstrations in Taksim on Mayday resumed this year as the state decided to use the
redevelopment of the square as an excuse to prevent protests from taking place. Gezi Park,
the focal point of the current rebellion is being slated for demolition to make way for
the construction of a replica Ottoman-era army barracks, Top?u K??las?, that will most
likely be used for commercial purposes. It is not a coincidence for the AKP government,
with its roots in Islam, that the original barracks were the site of a major Islamic
uprising in 1909. This comes in addition to a decision to name the third bridge after
Sultan Yavuz Selim, infamous for the mass-murders of the Alevite population of Anatolia.
Those who have been defending Gezi Park have been at it for a long time. In addition to
large trade-unions, many participants come from a relatively newer independent left, with
younger generations embracing more anti-authoritarian ecological tendencies with an
emphasis on ?right to the city? kind of activism. They all converge under the grouping of
the Taksim Solidarity Platform, which focuses on preventing the transformation of the city
into an even more elaborate capitalist playground built upon public space. This was not
their first campaign against urban renewal. Two months ago clashes broke out between
filmmakers who were trying to save a famed turkish cinema, Emek, from becoming yet another
shopping mall and police who deployed pepper spray and water cannons. It is also important
to note that some of the main protagonists who are involved in the fight for Gezi Park are
also those behind immigrant solidarity demonstrations and actions such as providing free
meals for migrants or organizing demonstrations in front of immigrant detention centers in
Istanbul.
The fight to save Gezi Park was not in the public consciousness of Turkey until the police
raided it two mornings in a row on May 29th and 30th. Outrage at the brutality of the
police was the spark which lit the whole country on fire and transformed the struggle into
a nation-wide rebellion against the current government.
Neoliberal Islam
The ruling AKP (Justice and Development Party) should be contextualized within the
transforming geopolitical landscape of the Middle East. They have strong roots in
political Islam and continue the tradition of other political parties from the 1990s that
had been suppressed by the military, sometimes while in power. In fact Erdo?an himself
previously has been imprisoned for inciting the public to ?Islamic sedition.? The stated
aspiration of Erdo?an and his cadre is that of ?The Neo-Ottoman Project? which aims to
make Turkey the economic and political powerhouse of the Middle East and North Africa.
Erdo?an?s political power-plays in Syria and Libya must be contextualized within these
aspirations.
Unlike the European Union or western states, Turkey has seen a massive economic boom (with
annual growth rates of almost 10%) in the recent years. Even though both the trade deficit
and real unemployment is running high and massive privatization is selling off what is
left in the hands of the public, the crisis is being contained in Turkey and the current
government is riding high on this situation. This is perhaps what sets the revolt of
Istanbul apart. This is a revolt against boom-time development, destructive urban renewal
projects and the hyper-modernization of cities. The Istanbul uprising illustrates the
opposite pole in the ongoing fight against capitalism, and complements the struggles
against austerity of recent years.
Turkey was one of the prime targets of the neoliberal restructuring of the 1980s, during
which then prime minister Turgut ?zal facilitated massive privatization schemes targeting
its factories, mines and the overall infrastructure of the country. The AKP government,
and Erdo?an in particular was successful in bringing that neoliberal regime into the 21st
century, shrouded by an Islamist populism. In addition, he successfully promoted Turkish
firms with Islamic bases, as a neoliberal force in the global marketplace. This can be
most notably seen in Northern Iraq where the major source of capital is in fact Turkish.
We should remember that the Turkish model has been proposed by western powers as a
possible way out of the uprisings that marked the Arab Spring. Thanks to those fighting
during the past days in the streets of Turkey that neoliberal Islamic model has now been
thrown into serious question.
Ergenekon and the Kurdish Struggle
Erdo?an?s aspirations have not been totally uncontested and there have been various
threats against his regime, notably from a cadre of generals and intellectuals who see
themselves as defenders of the Turkish secular nation-state and who have sent various
warning signals to Erdo?an in recent years . The most significant counter-reaction from
Erdo?an came when he launched a multi-city police operation against dozens of members of
the military, intellectuals and public figures with allegations of organizing a coup
against his government. These police operations, and resulting criminal cases against the
conspiracy known as Ergenekon are ongoing. It is imperative to realize the significance of
these arrests and resulting court proceedings. Unprecedented for a nation brought up on
successive military coups, the arrests and trials of high ranking military officials and
others were met with rallies and demos around Turkey as huge crowds embroiled by the
ascent of the AKP defended the secular old-guard elite. These arrests and imprisonments
are also why there still has not been a response to the current situation from the the
Turkish military, traditionally a major player in Turkish politics. The proliferation of
the Turkish nationalist sentiment in the current uprising is a direct consequence of the
past years? so-called ?flag-demos? or ?Rallies for the Republic? that the nationalist
center-left parties have been staging against the AKP government. At this current moment
of the rebellion we are witnessing the opportunism of these opposition political forces as
they try to exert influence over what has so far been a true people?s uprising.
Any analysis of current Turkish uprising must consider the relationship with the Kurdish
movement for liberation. The center-point of Turkish politics for the past two decades has
undoubtedly been the Kurdish guerrilla warfare for autonomy launched by the PKK in 1978.
Over the past months, Erdo?an has effectively brokered a peace deal with the leader of the
PKK, Abdullah ?calan, who has been in a Turkish island-prison since 1999. Erdo?an is
attempting to position himself as the leader who solved the most pressing issue in the
country. This has not only led him to assume a carte-blanche in Turkish politics (his
regime has brutally oppressed and imprisoned various leftists and other opposition figures
in recent years) but also to portray himself as a peacemaker between two ethnicities. The
recently re-energized convergence of a large segment of the Turkish Left with the Kurdish
movement has become more fragile due to the deal making conducted by Erdo?an as people are
suspicious of how the peace process plays into his neo-ottoman ideas.
This is perhaps one of the biggest questions of the moment: how will the movement in the
streets congeal and what kind of relationship will it have with the Kurdish struggle? The
great majority of those who initiated the occupation of Gezi Park and who have been
fighting Erdo?an?s vision of developing Istanbul are in full solidarity with the Kurdish
people. But the masses that have flooded the streets with the Turkish flags are a
different story. At best, they are critical of Erdo?an using the Kurdish peace process to
strengthen his hold on power and at worst, they are blatant racists who see Kurds as
terrorists. Despite this danger, recent developments in the street are promising. People
are reporting witnessing both Turkish flags and flags with ?calan?s portrait being
displayed together or the intertwining of chants that both emphasize the fraternity
between different ethnicities and ones celebrating the national identity of Turkey.
Creeping Social Conservatism
The uprising against Erdo?an is fueled by a creeping Islamic conservatism pushed by the
AKP in order to cultivate its base. These conservative policies have manifested in various
realms such as cutting access to abortions and birth control, tighter control of the
internet and communication, restrictions and taxes on alcohol consumption and the
state-sponsored amplification of Islamic holidays. These policies have been met with
demonstrations of thousands in the same streets where the rebellion is centered and have
been the predecessors for the current malcontent.
Erdo?an?s personal style as a prime minister, is a major factor influencing the visceral
anger witnessed in the streets. In almost every public speech, whether it be at a
political rally or a TV interview, Erdo?an attacks, threatens and is condescending towards
every social-political segment except his own. This ranges from blatant insults to
dismissals with the rabid tones of a mad-dog politician. His latest statements during the
uprising were exemplary and only add fuel to the fire for those in the streets who he
arrogantly characterized as ?a handful of marauders and extremists.?
The crucial link between the conservative cultural policy of AKP and its economic
neoliberal policy must be revealed so that the Kemalist middle class who is heavily
participating in the uprising realizes that they cannot push back cultural conservatism
without challenging the economic policies. If successful, this would win over the poorer
classes currently more inclined to support the AKP on a cultural basis.
The first days of this people?s uprising have been totally spontaneous and outside the
control of any political parties. All of the contradictions, for example between radical
leftists and Turkish nationalists, were momentarily put aside to fight the police and
build barricades to hold the squares and boulevards of Istanbul. What remains to be seen
is whether or not large-scale public spaces such as Gezi Park and Taksim Square will
provide the venue for these contradictions to come into revolutionary dialogue and
construct an nstoppable movement in Turkey.
Home »
» (en) The uprising in Istanbul - The Flip-side of the Anti-Capitalist Coin by ALI BEKTAS (fr)