From Bishkek to Ankara: Gezi Park Reverberations

In the first days of the crisis, embassies were busy sending hourly messages back their nations, but as of the start of this week, these have evolved into daily analyses. During this process, the perception that “a revolution is taking place in Turkey” has become widespread in many countries. In some Arab countries people are asking, "Is this the Turkey we used as an example?"
 
In fact, the Gezi Park protests have opened the door to all sorts of new impressions about Turkey throughout the world. At the same time, we also see support for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pouring in from various countries around the world and large rallies in support of Erdoğan have been held not only in Turkey, but also in the US, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Malaysia, Kosovo, Indonesia, Yemen and Gaza.
 
Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev is set to arrive in Ankara on Tuesday morning in a show of support for Erdoğan. Atambayev and his wife Raisa are known to be close friends and supporters of Turkey and since Erdoğan showed strong support for Kyrgyzstan during some of its most difficult recent days, Atambayev decided to make this surprise visit to Ankara. Kyrgyzstan has been known for many centuries now as a country that knows how to use its diplomatic talents and strategy to its best advantage. It is because of this that Kyrgyzstan can boast a successful multi-party parliament in the larger framework of Central Asia. It has emerged unscathed from the turbulence that other countries in Central Asia are now only newly entering into in the process of democratization.
 
The Gezi Park protests first emerged as the Istanbul version of the international “Occupy” movement, fighting social and economic inequalities. But with the misreading of 21st century global culture by the Turkish bureaucracy and political circles, these incidents, which might have remained limited to Gezi Park, have instead become overly politicized and have led the way to extreme polarization within society. The first “Respect National Will” rally held by the prime minister in Ankara on Saturday, June 15 led to the tearing down of the tents set up in Gezi Park. When the second of these rallies occurred in İstanbul on Sunday, June 16, a few elements emerged at the forefront. These include the defending of and explanations for actions taken by the government and the police, the tightening of political flanks and accusations aimed at the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and the nationalists who support its single party legacy. The prime minister, who says he believes that Turkey has been the target of an international conspiracy, has announced that he will continue to travel throughout the country, speaking at rallies.
 
And so, while the tents at Gezi Park have now been gathered up, what will happen to the spirit of Gezi Park? Will it live on in the Prime Minister's sights? Will it live on within the CHP? Will it turn into a political movement? Will it evolve into a new kind of mobile and flexible street action, one that flares up where the environment or corruption is concerned? Will it be condemned to go down as one line in Turkish history books? Only time will tell what will happen, but nothing seems to be slowing down the demonstrators at this point.
 
The protests and their responses have entered into a sort of simplistic situation where everything is black and white, you or us, good or bad. This polarization needs to be avoided and more effort must be made to understand the youth. In Turkish cities, an educated younger population is forced to work for very low wages. In fact, unemployment levels are very high in this group. Meanwhile, unqualified universities all over the country are turning out hundreds of thousands of graduates each year and these young people pour into arenas that hold no promise of jobs.
 
To call the Gezi Park protests a sort of “Turkish Spring” is to belittle Turkish democracy. In Turkey, democratic elections have been occurring since 1877. Turkey is a democratic country. Democratic countries know how to learn lessons from the actions of their youth. In Turkey, the necessary lessons will be learned from all this.