By Neşe İdil
Turkey has witnessed dramatic days for the second time in the past twenty years. Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu’s detention sparked outrage and led to one of the largest protests since the iconic 2013 Gezi protests.
I spent my days covering rallies in front of the Istanbul Municipality building in Saraçhane, 12 years after staying for a month in Gezi Park. This experience has prompted me to compare the two.
In the beginning, banners from across the political spectrum could be seen in front of the municipality building. Socialists and nationalists shared the space, reminiscent of Gezi. Socialists displayed their banners, while nationalists chanted about their happiness to be Turks. There were no clashes or tension. Massive Turkish flags and Atatürk posters were everywhere, which made sense because the CHP led the rally - unlike Gezi, which was a spontaneous movement.
My first observation was the overwhelming majority of nationalist youth. Since there were no rifts between nationalists and people from other political beliefs, this could only be accepted as a joyous occasion. The bigger the crowd, the better for the protests. That turned out to be not the case in the following days.
TURNING POINT
On the night of March 22, Mansur Yavaş, the capital city’s nationalist mayor, addressed the crowd and triggered a debate that marred the protests. Yavaş was furious that the police in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority provinces distributed cotton candy to children during Nevruz celebrations while using tear gas and water cannons in Saraçhane.
Calling Kurdish flags “rags,” Yavaş called on police officers to distribute candy to the young people in Istanbul as well. This was a turning point.
Kurds were already - and understandably - hesitant to attend the protests. The area was filled to the brim with nationalism and Turkish identity. Yes, the DEM Party voiced solidarity with the CHP and condemned İmamoğlu’s arrest. Yes, party leaders visited Saraçhane, and its Istanbul branch attended one of the rallies, but one could not possibly compare the Kurdish presence to what it was in Gezi, where all ethnicities and political views raised their voices together.
During Nevruz celebrations in Istanbul on March 23, Yavaş’s remarks had immediate repercussions. The crowd booed those on stage as they attempted to read a message from the CHP. Although Özel quickly apologized for Yavaş’s comments that same night, and the Ankara mayor later sought to recast his words, he has been absent from the protests since then.
NATIONALISTS BECOME MORE VISIBLE
From Yavaş’s speech onward, Saraçhane and other scenes of protest became overwhelmingly ultranationalist. Young people making the sign of the fascist Gray Wolves became more frequent. This does not mean, however, that those on the streets were MHP supporters.
Over the last couple of years, especially with the foundation of jailed Ümit Özdağ’s Zafer Party, young people in Turkey have become increasingly nationalist. The party and its followers embrace Turkishness and claim that the Gray Wolves sign belongs to Turkish heritage and not the MHP. Until now, this has shown itself on social media. They were racist towards Kurds - or any other ethnicity for that matter - but they didn’t know how to go out to the streets.
ANTI-KURDISH STANCE
By March 24, the protests had turned into ultranationalist youth posing for pictures holding racist banners. They staged a mock hanging of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan and chanted slurs against the DEM Party. Ultranationalists asked for a Kurdish song to be turned off because it was a “guerrilla march.” A new arrival might have thought that the DEM Party was responsible for İmamoğlu’s arrest.
As expected, a few university students I talked to on March 25 told me they won’t join the protests anymore because it’s unsafe.
During the Gezi protests, I saw people warn protesters not to use the slogan “We are the soldiers of Mustafa Kemal” because it’s militarist. Now, there are those who still voice that warning, but are met with fury and accusations of non-Turkishness. The same goes for sexist chants.
Having painted this grim picture, I should note that there are still socialists and non-nationalist youth on the streets struggling for democracy. The solution might be for them to lead these protests and unite different groups in objecting to the government. Until then, however, what has been happening is far from the glorious Gezi days.
