It all started with the park which surrounds Taksim, it's the only park that remains over Beyoglu area. In the heart of Istanbul, they tried to cut down the trees in Gezi Park to build a shopping mall. As unbelievable as it is, there are 93 massive shopping malls in Turkey and all we need to do is more shopping instead of enjoying the natural habitat. [/sarcasm]
I look at this event as a symbol. It became into a chaotic state where it was conservatives with media power and guns(policemen) vs secular liberalists who value their freedom of will. They tried to ban the usage of alcohol between 10 pm to 6 am (does anyone know that the party starts after midnight?) Not to mention that right across the border in Syria, there were bombings and we were being silent about it, great governor skills really. The PM went to the states right after the bombing, making the greatest escape I've ever encountered.
They are trying to shut down the press, the press is all silent at this very moment. Out of one hundreds, only one television channel is telling the truth, and it's all going bad.
People started to walk and protest (without provoking the cops) about Gezi Park. The police's excuse is ''they are not allowed to protest in Taksim Square therefore we have to stop them'' People were escaping from the pepper spray and rushed into the metro station underground. The police shut down the doors of the station and threw a tear gas capsule inside. One pregnant woman who's not aware of what's going on had troubles breathing, one guy got asthma attack and was near to passing away. After the first day of riots a cop claimed he got an order, and as I quote ''The prime minister has a strict order. We have to do whatever we can to calm them down and let this all go as soon as possible. He wanted us to destroy the crowd with water cannons and pepper sprays. We will hit as hard as possible.''
So, there is no reason to be silent. Loads and loads of people are walking, and it's not about cutting the trees. It's about how we stand, how we unite whenever we need, and how we stand up to this bullshit that they have been rubbing our faces to. It's not about some shopping mall anymore, it's about how we burst with this anger and rage. Even our press can't do anything, because they have been bought and sold long time ago.
People are passing Bosphorus bridge to protest what's going on. They might have pepper sprey and sticks, but people realise that people should have more power than the people who got elected in the first place. It's about how government should be aware of the power of what the folk wants. We do not want to end up like any other Middle Eastern country as well. It doesn't matter if you are a Fenerbahce fan, Galatasaray fan, Besiktas fan, gay, straight, Kurd, Turk, black, white... We have to stand up and show our attitude by sticking together.
The founder of this republic moved his entire house 5 meters away not to cut down one single tree, and yet there are shutting the whole park down, destroying this natural habitat. See, where we came from and what we do...
Guardian reported ''It's like having a massive riot in Times Square, that nobody is aware of...''
European press reported ''Those Barbarian(!) Turks are rioting against everything not to cut down the trees in Gezi Park. When Turks fight for something, it must be a life changing event...''
To sum up, it's not about some bloody park. Yes, it triggered things. It's about how our press is bought and they show off on television how we are ''terrorists'' to protest this. It's about how people who are obligated to protect(!) us are turning their back against us and pepper spraying all over the country. It's about how minorities have been abused for such a long time, that we can not remain silent anymore. We ran out of patience. We are uniting under one ideology, and that's to let the whole world know what we had been through and deal with it in a friendly manner as much as we can. This is all real, this is happening. Istanbul United.