Kürt Aktivistler

Uluğ, Ö. M., & Acar, Y. (2015). We are more than alliances between groups': A social psychological perspective on the Gezi Park protesters and negotiating levels of identity. In Everywhere Taksim: sowing the seeds for a new Turkey at Gezi. Amsterdam University Press.

Kurdish Activists (Istanbul): The reasons mentioned by Kurdish activists

were more general compared to the other groups. They mentioned the

importance of protecting the green spaces in the city centre, which,

during times of disaster, are meant to be used as meeting places.

They expressed a desire to prevent urban renewal projects and they

objected to police violence and to the media’s deliberate negligence in

appropriately covering police brutality during the protests. Participants

stated that the violence they observed during the protests reminded

them of the treatment of Kurds in the 1990s.7 The Kurdish participants

discussed the AKP’s attempts to impose on all areas of life through

‘oppression, prohibition, insult and humiliation.’ However, the foremost

reason for participants was Sırrı Süreyya Önder’s (parliamentarian

of the pro-Kurdish BDP) presence in the park and his support for the

protests since their inception.

Two participants indicated that their Kurdish identity was less important

during the protests. Rather, their socialist, environmentalist and/

or labourer identity was more important. One participant commented

on this issue, stating, ‘if you live in Turkey, you have many identities. In

the Gezi protests, we brought all of these identities together.’

Kurds felt close to the Anti-capitalist Muslims, Revolutionary Muslims,

LGBTI movement, feminists, Çarşı, Tek Yumruk and Sol Açık, sex workers,

voluntary health care workers and some socialist political parties,such as the Socialist Democracy Party (Sosyalist Demokrasi Partisi),

the Labour Party (Emek Partisi), the Socialist Party of the Oppressed

(Ezilenlerin Sosyalist Partisi), the Socialist Solidarity Platform (Sosyalist

Dayanışma Platformu) and the Socialist Party of Refoundation (Sosyalist

Yeniden Kuruluş Partisi). On the other hand, Kurds did not feel close to

the İP and TGB. (p. 129-130)