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WHAT GEZI SAYS JUNE 4, 2013
Mask, mask, mask, gas mask, masks ,masks
We've been here since the beginning.
Though we are not here all the time, we come here regularly.
It is our homes that we visit, not here.
We visit home, rest a little bit and continue again.
When they first used force against us I couldn't believe that I was in this kind of a situation.
I never thought I would experience such oppression.
Because that's not why I came here. I meant to come here, sit in the park and support the resistance.
That is not what I saw here; people were reading books. There were calm, well educated people that knew what they were doing.
Actually, it was a group that didn't expect such a reaction.
All the oppression here caused a breaking point, and now there is an unstoppable dynamic moving forward.
I think it is very important how all this unwinds.
Because it is very important to be here but our reason for being here also needs to be highlighted.
Otherwise, I have a fear that we might end up returning to our daily routine after a while.
I think authorities have started to see that the crowd here is becoming more conscious.
Therefore, I believe we will start getting an increasingly positive reaction.
But, many saddening situations have also occurred.
We were widely ignored at first,
but if we continue this way we are going to prove ourselves very well.
I think we need to continue at full force.
We come here from Bakırköy.
For the past 4-5 days we have been out and active in Bakırköy until 3 in the morning.
This is the second time we have come here.
There was a lot of action and reaction in Beşiktaş as well.
And of course we are very sad.
None of us wanted it to be like this, especially for the young people.
I'm a retired woman. I worked for the government for 25 years.
I don't want anything for myself. I want something for my unborn grandchild; because the state of affairs isn't good at all.
I'm really happy to see the young people. There is a wonderful youth.
We are showing an effort to leave them something for the future. And that's all we can do.
At the moment there is an immense energy here, and a lot of strong people.
So now I feel much stronger and ready for things to come. I don't feel alone at all.
I think we're giving a righteous response to the ones who wish to strengthen their political hegemony by utilising our mosques, and whose actual religion is capitalism, whose shrines are shopping malls.
What we experience here today is an out of the ordinary social practice
When the Arab Spring took place we thought this would never happen in Turkey.
We thought that Turkey's current political and social structure was not suitable for a discussion as such. We thought that there was no social background for such an uprising.
What we are facing here at the moment shows us that that is not the case.
And that we need to get rid of our political presumptions. That's my first impression.
Secondly and most unfortunately some of the reactions surfaced here show that
even though Turkey went through a political transformation in the last 10 years, we were not able to create a paradigm change regarding certain social issues.
Since the current political regime carries out its confrontation with Kemalism through an unsubstantial accusation, a poor judiciary system and false actors
this reckoning has not been internalised by the society.
We also need to focus on the previous events leading to the Gezi Park Resistance.
Lots have been accumulated.
Reyhanlı massacre, previous massacres and attacks on people, capitalist assaults, the ban on alcohol, restrictions on people's lives... all these things have come together, and exploded.
Tayyip Erdoğan says that "this is not about 2 trees, they have another agenda."
In that respect he is right because this is not only about the trees. This led to a meaningful resistance and people expressing themselves freely.
In this regard, we are going through a historical period in time.
What do you think will be happening in the near future?
It is hard to say something for the time being.
It depends on the attitude of the government. There is a great resistance here. We hope that no more lives are lost.
That's all I can say for now.
They are trying to start a library here. A kitchen and an infirmary are already set up.
This can well turn into a sustainable space for living. I think this is what matters,
since all this was primarily a reaction from the people who had no say about the city they live in.
When the situation settles, new demands will arise and some demands are already there.
Movie makers, artists, writers... they all state that they support the process.
We still need some time, during which we have to stand together,
and lend an ear to each other.
If this threshold is surpassed, Turkey will be able to produce a political opposition beyond current social tensions,
a stand that is anti-ideological, but not de-politicized.
This square and the planned mall project, hydro-electric powerplants, issues concerning health and education relate to society in general.
AKP supporters per se are also subject to neo-liberal policies.
If we can get through this, the current climate will evolve into something else.