Gezi park story - Istanbul
Bimen Zartar
Historian of Armenian origins.
One of the first people to build the
barricades.
"The staircase leading to the park
had been built with the dismantled
tombstones of an old Armenian
graveyard.
I went there to protect my
grandfather's stone, then I realized
that something important was
happening."
Isil Ertuzun
Psychiatrist
Member of the association for the
safeguard of Gezi Park.
She was with Birkan the night of May 27
"We were going out to dinner, but
seeing the bulldozers we stopped.
Amazed by what was happening,
we asked them to show us the
authorization, but there was none."
Nahide Ilgin
Accountant
Member of the association for the
safeguard of Gezi Park.
She was with Birkan the night of May 27
"I just started calling everyone I knew
on the phone, but it was late and
I thought nobody would come.
I was wrong."
Kadir Alar
Journalist and writer
One of the first journalists entering the
occupied park with the delegation
of parliamentarians.
“For the first 10 days, the public
television transmitted documentaries
about penguins.
For this reason, the protesters came up
with a penguin wearing a gas mask as
the symbol of the Turkish protests.”
Gezi Park
Protests in Taksim square
Protests in Gezi park
Birkan Isin
Lawyer
President of the association for the
safeguard of Gezi Park.
He was the first one to see and shoot
what was happening.
He posted the first 13 pictures
at 11.30 p.m. on May 27, while the
bulldozers were demolishing the wall
to get to the trees.
"I was there, I had to do something.
I would have never forgiven myself
otherwise!
After 30 minutes it was 50 of us,
next morning it was an entire
country”.
Mustafa Cevdet Arslan
Archeologist
Member of the association for the
safeguard of Gezi Park.
The man who climbed the wall to stop
the bulldozers at 11:45 p.m. on May 27.
"These are our trees and none of us
gave them permission to uproot them."
Erdem Gunduz
Free-lance choreographer and dancer.
Erdem's image, standing still for hours
in front of Ataturk's statue,
has been seen all over the world.
It embodies the soul of Turkey's
non-violent protest.
"Can you imagine?
I am a choreographer, a dancer."
Bulent Muftuoglu
Photographer by passion and trader of
organic products.
He followed from the first night
everything that happened,
documenting an extremely detailed
social reportage.
Claudio Monge
Dominican Father, Doctor of Theology,
has been living in Turkey for more than
ten years.
"In Gezi Park I’ve been talking to young
people of every kind of religion during
the protests, trying to understand if it
could be also a religious point for the
protesters. It was not.
I remember a young man talking to his
Muslim neighbor he met in the park,
apologizing he never talked to her
before”.
Mevhibe Gozcelioglu
Engineer
One of the first women who arrived.
During the occupation she was the one
who organized and helped the
wounded.
Mennan Euren
Pensioner.
One of the first person to pitch his
tend in Gezi park.
"That was great!"
Haluk Aykan
Painter
Member of the association for the
safeguard of Gezi Park.
One of the first person who arrived in
Gezi Park in the night on May 27.
"There is no strategy!
I don't have the slightest idea where
this movement is going to take us,
but I can tell you that even if we don't
know whether we will be able to change
this country, we are already changing
ourselves."
Protests in Gezi park
“Boyun egme”
- don’t bend your neck -
A so important slogan of the Turkish
protests.
Police in Taksim square.
Istiklal st.
Protests on the first day of Ramadan
Istiklal st.
Young Turkish boy during the protests.
Istiklal st.
Young Turkish man during the protests.
Istiklal st.
Turkish young man arrested during the protests.
Istiklal st.
Tear gas during the protests.