2023-05-28 05:57:00
Ten years ago, the protests took place in Istanbul’s Gezi Park. They mark the break between Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the liberal part of Turkey – and a turning point in the president’s political career. Just on the anniversary of the wave of protests, Erdoğan has to face a runoff election this Sunday.
Five Trees. In the night of May 28, 2013, exactly ten years ago, the excavators advanced in Istanbul’s Gezi Park and felled five trees. It should be the beginning, the beginning of the end of a small green space in the central Taksim Square, the hub of the metropolis in the European part. But the excavators stood still the next day. A small group of environmentalists occupied the park, hung up banners, and an opposition member of parliament stood in front of the machines. In the following days, the events might no longer be stopped. The protest camp was violently cleared, causing the pent-up anger and disappointment of large parts of the population to overflow. A wave of protests unprecedented in the history of the republic formed.
“We’re right, we’re going to win,” was written on posters at the time, and, looking at the inflationary use of water cannons: “If we were afraid of gas, we wouldn’t fart.” What was supposed to be the end of a small park was the end of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as an internationally celebrated politician in an up-and-coming country. Gezi Park was Erdoğan’s nemesis, the point at which he made his political U-turn, it was the beginning of his authoritarian metamorphosis. It is precisely on this symbolic anniversary that today’s President now has to face a runoff election.
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