Hello People,
In this post I want to share a post that a friend has written on Facebook. It’s about what’s going on in Turkey right now. It’s been all over the news all over the world but Turkish news, they can’t say anything because they are cowards. Only people who uses Twitter or Facebook knows what’s going on, people who watches only TV knows that everything is fine but apparently there’s more than that. And here’s what’s truly going on from Turks.
“For foreigners and international media, this is what’s happening in Turkey:
Turkey has woken up from its sleep during AKP’s fascist regime.
Turkey is a secular republic founded in 1923. Since 1946 we have multi-party democracy. AKP (aka Justice and Development Party) is an Islamist party which was elected in 2002 for the first time after the economic crisis in 2001. They have been elected three consecutive times so far. At first, their choices against human rights and freedom of speech were more subtle. Right now, nothing seems to be scaring the government.
5 days ago, a group of protestors went to Gezi Park, a park in the middle of Istanbul’s European center Taksim. AKP’s project is to destroy the park and build another shopping mall (Istanbul unfortunately has hundreds of them). Two days ago, the police started to attack the protestors who are trying to save the trees in that park. The violence did not end and Gezi Park protest became the final drop. Istanbul started to gather in Taksim. The police took all of the streets that end in Taksim in the afternoon. Me, a friend of mine and my dad somehow made it to Taksim and started waiting for the larger group that was in Istiklal Avenue to enter the square. The group in Istiklal was tens of thousands of people. You can see pictures on my profile. And they managed to push the police back towards the square. The police attacked the protestors with gas bombs and water cannons. One young man has been murdered by the water cannon and four other people because of gas bombs and panzers.
In the square, while we were waiting in restaurants that opened its doors to protestors, since that was pretty much the only space you could breath in, the police suddenly came up and threw gas bombs into the restaurant and chased the crowd in front of the restaurant into the place with batons. This is not a story I heard and am telling, this is what happened to me last night.
The battle in Taksim lasted as it is till 3 pm today. At 3.30pm the government has announced that the police has been ordered to step back. They did not but the gas fire ceased for a while. Around 4pm, millions were gathered in Gezi Park. Taksim was filled with people. There were no policemen but we suffered from gas bombs occasionally thrown from a helicopter. A helicopter that the AKP government had never used against the terrorism in South-East Turkey.
Around 8pm things got ugly again. Since the police had left Taksim, they took Besiktas, which is the European center on Bosphorus shore. An actual battle started in Besiktas. Police has thrown gas bombs in Bahcesehir University and Mimar Sinan University and State Conservatory. The security guard of Mimar Sinan, whom we, who went to that conservatory, all know, is hospitalized, his face is destroyed by a bullet. The question is whether that was a plastic or an actual bullet. The answer is what we fear.
Around 10pm, I heard one of my high school friends were under custody. He arrived home safely after spending around 14 hours under custody but we know that there are 939 people still under custody as of now. Their crime is having protested. Protest is our constitutional right. You can check the constitution of the Republic of Turkey, Article 34.
Right now, thousands still are on their way to Besiktas, same is happening in Ankara, Izmir, Antalya, Edirne, Mersin, Eskisehir, Adana, Kayseri, Konya and in many more. Demonstrations have happened throughout today in San Francisco, Boston, New York City, Paris, as well as Poland, Azerbaijan, England, Spain,Italy…
As of now 53 people are officially injured but the police keeps gas bombing the places, such as the universities in Besiktas that I listed above, that hold many injured people.
Pharmacies give out gas masks and medicine for free, lawyers and doctors offer their services for free and are in fields.
THIS IS NOT BECAUSE OF TREES BEING DESTROYED, THIS IS BECAUSE WE DON’T HAVE A RIGHT TO TALK, TO PROTEST, THIS IS BECAUSE WE HAVE JOURNALISTS IN JAIL, THIS IS BECAUSE THE PRIME MINISTER STILL SAYS THEY DON’T CARE WHAT WE DO AND THEY WILL CONTINUE WITH THE GEZI PROJECT, THIS IS BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE UNDER CUSTODY BECAUSE THEY USED THEIR RIGHT TO PROTEST, THIS IS BECAUSE THE GOVERNMENT MADE THE POLICE ATTACK THE GEZI PROTESTORS. THE GOVERNMENT IS NOT SERVING ITS PEOPLE, IT’S KILLING THEM.
This is what’s happening in Turkey. This is not Turkish Spring, we don’t need revolution. This is Turkey, taking its secular democracy back. No more corruption, no more radical Islamism, no more FASCISM!
Cansu Colakoglu”
Please help us spread the word and let people now the truth.
Thanks,
Miss Murphy
Taksim, Istanbul
People walking to Taksim(European side) from Asian side, Bosphorus, Istanbul
Miss Murphy 