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My first question is if you have been personally in a demonstration all these days
Yes, of course, we did.
Our first mission was just about the park
We were just there just save the trees and to not let them to touch our park
and all the sudden, early in the morning we woke up with the hard smell of the gas
and we didn't know what was going on.
We never, even expected, such kind of attitude from the police
So, in sudden we woke up and it was like a hell and...
...then the rest of the days, and the second day, and the third day
we kept on participating in demonstrations
After a while we all realised that this is just not about the park
So, now the protests and demonstrations became
against the goverment
Because... All right. Let's say we save the trees, we save the park...
...but the attitude of the police
and, also, the attitude of the government
was fully against us.
So, all we had to do was to defend ourselves, our human rights,
against the government.
How would you describe the spirit of the demonstrations?
You already mentioned that "it's not about the park anymore"
"It's not ONLY about the park anymore"
Is the spirit anti-police, anti-AKP,
anti-authoritarian, mixed, or something else?
I think that that was a really nice question!
But the thing is...
I can't tell you quite a certain answer for it.
This is just against the government.
"You crossed the line, man!" That's the thing.
You crossed my line, you touched my human rights,
you have to pay for it.
So that was the spirit. That's all I can tell you.
If you touch my rights, if you touch my freedom,
you have to pay for this.
It's not because of the specific party...
... it's because "the line was crossed".
Exactly. It's because ...
You know, even the political parties we support...
- I mean, personally, I can honestly tell you that I'm not even a fan of politics
[...] but we care about the trees [...] [...] and about the symbol of Taksim, Istiklal [...]
- but they changed the subject.
So, we change the subject as well!
So, all we had to do was to defend ourselves and defend our human rights.
This is, I mean, this is ridiculous!
This is pathetic, you know...
I've spend a long time in some other countries, in my life,
and never witnessed such kind of things.
But, as you said, the spirit of the group, that made me proud!
I mean, I wanna be there, even right now!
Do you have a general idea of the number and magnitude of the demonstrations in the rest of the country,
apart from Istanbul?
Well, it said that, all over Turkey, it's over a million [people], for sure.
This is for sure.
We have reports of demonstrations virtually in every city and town.
Sure. Especially our biggest ones.
As far as we read on the news from social media, even the little towns
I'm pretty sure that the government doesn't care about [...] but even the little towns are demonstrating.
From the biggest cities, to the little towns.
Do you feel that this wave of demonstrations is going to end soon,
or that there's still a lot going to happen?
[...] The more they keep offending us, the more we'll keep doing it.
We just want a solution.
Of course we have disadvantages within our group as well. We don't say "leave the country" or something like that.
We just don't want them to touch our human rights.
You know, I wish I could give you my name. I wish I could let you see me...
... but, unfortunately, there's a kind of lack of freedom of speech over here.
And, you know, this is pathetic.
-Well, most pathetic thing is, forgive me the comment, that this is happening in other countries, as well...
-Freedom of speech, man. That's the thing. That's what I don't really understand!
- Is there anything else you would like to add?
- The only thing I would like to add [is] I have a lot of connections, friends from all around the world,
Regarding the social media I see a lot of friends supporting us, from all around the world.
Even the people I know, even the people I don't know, you guys are... you know who you are...
I just wanna say that we appreciate all your support and, thanks very much!
"Efkaristo PARA para poli!"
Thank you very very much!