Istanbul, Turkey Days of Protests: Day 8, Chaos of Political Agenda
The spirit of protests clinching the streets of Istanbul was truly admirable. The fire burns tirelessly among the passionate protesters. And as the eighth day of protests unfolds, the number of people who had joined the protest grew in unbelievable number.
However, from the fight at Gezi Park aimed to save a historical tree from being pulled out to give way to a new shopping mall, different protest movements were born. Motives for the protests reached an incomprehensible state. Either the incident at Gezi Park provoked larger political issues against the government or different groups had finally found an opportune time to air their separate grievances against the government. Whatever they are fighting for, now, became obscure. Only one thing was certain, there were lives put in danger.
As more groups braved the police, different political agenda was added to the list.
The Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions or DiSK announced their support for the protests. After the announcement, a group of left-wing union of teachers, together with a group of left-wing union of medical workers, marched from Galatasaray Squar to Taksim Square to stage their general strike.
Meanwhile, feminist protesters convened at Taksim. They all have their color purple spray paint and their main agenda was to paint over all the homophobic and sexist slogans mounted around Taksim. They spray-painted all vandalism and graffiti they viewed as offensive to someone's gender preference.
At the Caglayan Court, group of lawyers called for government officials to resign and acknowledge that the protests end victoriously. On the other hand, a Slow Food activist and a strong voice in the Gezi Park protest , Defne Koryurek, expressed his contradiction against this claim.
In an interview with Time Magazine Mr. Koryurek said, "If Erdogan resigned what would that change? It would still be business as usual. What we need is for the government to understand the reasons behind this movement. It's about this park. It's about sustainability. It's about looking ahead to the next 100 years and what kind of a legacy we leave our kids. It's about respect for the people. Not threatening them like the government has been doing. This is a people's movement. It's about all of us."
In the same interview with Time Magazine, Bekir Agirdir, general manager of a well-known Konda research consultancy, said, "My daughter is in the park. And my 78-year-old dad went too last night. It's not just about being anti-AKP or beinganti-Erdogan. It's really about freedom. People want to change the old way of doing politics."
Ali Riza Gurs, a manager of a local food business, sees the protest in the same way as Mr. Koryurek and Mr. Agirdir saw it. "It's grown like an avalanche. I haven't really slept. I haven't gone to work. This sense of solidarity is a super feeling." Ms. Gurs started the community kitchen that had been giving free food for all the protesters.
But amidst the obscure political agenda for which these protesters kept fighting for, Time Magazine had put it beautifully, "The movement has no leader, nor a clear political agenda. And yet the air is charged with the spirit of change."