I am not a hoodlum, not an extremist, not a marginal, I am an individual, with rights

Before I found myself in the middle of Taksim Square on May 31st, I was just an expat living in Istanbul. I enjoyed living here though my concerns of what to become of Turkey as a result of seriously conservative policies placed by the ruling AKP increasingly grew over me. 

Turkey was a different place when I first came here, which was in 2001. I was here as a student, studying International Relations and I remember clearly the elections in 2002. I remember the festive atmosphere. People greeting AK Pary's buses in Kizilar. Flowers and promises for a greater future were everywhere. 

I left Ankara in 2005 and came back in 2007, around the time when YouTube was banned. I was shocked. How can YouTube be banned here?! For me Turkey always was a beacon of hope especially for someone who comes from Azerbaijan, where the authoritarian rule of one family been suffocating the country and its people for almost two decades now. Of course there were ways to go around banned YouTube. This was the first time I learned about bypass proxies. 

Then I left again 2009 and returned in 2010 this time with an intention to stay for much longer. But ever since I have been back (and in pretty much all cases) nothing good happened in Turkey. When I first moved back to Istanbul in 2007, I was one of privileged expats, with a generous salary, enjoying the colorful and rich life of Istanbul. But this wasn't the case for everybody, despite the increasing salaries and booming economy. 

AKP policies kept coming in, and while people protested nothing changed. Decisions were made, amendments passed and people got on with their lives. Mass arrests of army generals in the fear of "deep state plotting"; arrests of prominent individual and journalists, recent ban on alcohol and on public kissing, were really the final drops before this nation of some 70 million realized that the cup is full and there is no more room for any "kneeling". #occupygezi came at a right moment. The road expansion plan, cutting of trees, and the brutal police [mis]treatment of people who were at the park opened the Pandora box. People were angry and it wasn't just about trees anymore. 

And so, as events unraveled I too joined hundreds of thousands Istanbulites in protest, demanding that my voice, as an individual, is heard and that my rights are respected. It was disappointing to see government's initial reaction. It was quick to dismiss the essence of the protests and calling all of us- hooligans, alcoholics, hoodlums, extremist and marginals while we are students, doctors, lawyers, teachers, pensioners, housewives, engineers, and people from all sorts of interesting backgrounds. 

Today is the 9th day of protests in Istanbul. Today is also the day when demands of "Diren Taksim" [Resist Taksim] are heard by Deputy Prime Minister. The demands are simple (this is a rough translation, original text is available here): 

1. Gezi Park must stay as a park and that the authorities must announce a unanimous decision that nothing will be built there and it will remain a park from now on;

2. Ataturk Cultural Center (a building right next to Gezi Park) will remain untouched as well;

3. Governors, heads of security forces of Ankara, Istanbul and Hatay and those implementing their immediate orders must be dismissed from their duties immediately;

4. Ban on use of gas cannons and similar materials;

5. All those detained must be released immediately; 

6. No more bans on public gatherings in squares like Taksim and Kizilay (in Ankara) and other public squares; no more bans on the right to protest; and removal of all kinds of conditions limiting freedom of expression. 

The only person who apologized for the violence has been Deputy Prime Minister (and that was on the 8th day of protests and wasn't an apology from everyone mind you). The Prime Minister himself is away on a state visit trip. He left the country in a turmoil, once again dismissing everything that's been happening as an act of hooliganism, fueled by outside powers, jealous of Turkey's economy and the country's growing power significance. Well, dear Mr. Prime Minister, as one CHP Parliament Member said yesterday, "you have been poisoned by power". And that is the problem. People had expectations when PM Erdogan first came to power. Many voted for him and his party and voted again for him and the party but if more than 60 towns been on a revolt and the ruling party is still talking about trees and calling us names, this shows that something is wrong. One cannot call your citizens hoodlums and certainly one cannot say that Twitter is a menace to Turkish society. It is thanks to Twitter that we have been getting and sharing news about what is happening because Turkish media wouldn't (As someone wrote on a wall near Taksim "Revolution will not be televised, it will be tweeted"). It was only after Prime Minister left the country that CNN Turk began showing more footage of police brutality. But even today, on the 9th day of protest there is still no live coverage outside of hourly news segments.

What is going to happen next we are yet to see. I have certainly had enough of tear gas. Though on the nights when I don't get even the swift of it, it feels strange, like something is missing from my life. Will the current government resign after days of calls? I am not sure either. But things have to change, and that is I am sure of. I will be back in Taksim square today, tomorrow and the day after tomorrow if need be. I will come and join the peaceful protesters and continue tweeting and taking photos. I know I am not alone.

I am happy to be part of this resistance and see what Turkish people are capable of. Thanks to them, (and thanks to the Prime Minister because if it wasn't for him this probably would have never happened), I saw the unity and solidarity that could form among people united by one cause. The resistance continues! #direngeziparki #direnturkiye!

photographs are by me

Azerbaijan: Suits, uniforms, body ache

On March 10^th, Azerbaijani citizens came together to protest the deaths of military conscripts. Many held the photographs of a deceased young soldier, an 18-year-old conscript Ceyhun Gubadov whose initial death report said the young man died of a heart failure. The young man however was the victim of physical mistreatment. Gubadov wasn’t the first, nor is he the last conscript to lose a life in suspicious, undefined circumstances (most often hazing and abuse), which usually are covered by fake medical reports.  

Police ordered demonstrators to disperse given the rally was unsanctioned. Men in uniforms and plain clothed police however resorted to violence quickly using water cannons, rubber bullets and force in an attempt to scare the protestors. 

The poem below is about my emotions and feelings- what came out as a result of recent events at home. 

"suits and uniforms"

Making up your mind

Waking up to the reality

Slowing down the pace

Of life, of yet another sanity

I’m suffocating

These men in suits and uniforms

They mutilate me

Not physically but mentally

My body aches

From mental wounds

From their insanity

They are killing me

Gradually

They are suffocating me

Slowly

They mutilate me

Reducing living cells

Of my lucidity

I reach the point

In my life

When questioning the “suits” and “uniforms”

Makes no more sense

As they are senseless

They are still

Not physically but mentally

They hurt, they suffocate

Both physically and mentally

They say it’ll pass

But when and how

And will my body, mind and soul

Keep up the fight

The struggle

And find the strength

To see the light and day

When men in suits and uniforms no longer there

To mutilate and suffocate

To let me go

To let us go

To live a life

No longer scared,

No longer hurt

But that’s a dream,

Too far from the reality

And as I wake up

And see reality

My body aches

Not physically but mentally

And once again

I start to lose my sanity

The stability they show you

Perhaps, this is for the attention of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, perhaps this is for the attention of human rights watch organizations, perhaps its for nobody's attention after all nobody cares really at policy and decision making level abroad about rights, freedoms of Azerbaijani people. 

So perhaps I am addressing very those members of the parliament who voted against the resolution on political prisoners not so long ago. I must share with you, dear apologists and avid supporters, the brutality of Azerbaijani government, its so called democracy and respect for its people. Surely, this is not the kind of stability our officials talk about when they meet in Brussels, Strasbourg or DC. And surely, this is not what they show you when they invite you to lavish parties at consulates, embassies, residences of Azerbaijani ambassadors abroad. 

This is from a letter shared by journalists arrested during the riots in Ismayilli:

They keep people from Quba in terrible conditions. Those trialed in Khachmaz as "organizers" of Quba events were taken from Baku (Kurdakhani) to Khachmaz on a cargo train. They traveled the night, cold, on the bare floor of the compartment reaching their destination in the morning. In Khachmaz they are held in a room with an open sewage. They are sticking bottles into the hole of the sewage just so not to go crazy.

Sounds like a scene from a movie, but its not. This is real. This is present day Azerbaijan, and this is the country you dear apologists say is doing pretty well and there are no issues with human rights abuse. But do not worry, you are safe and you can have as much caviar as you want. Because this is the imaginary stable Azerbaijan you prefer to believe in.

January 12th Protest, Baku, and some rhymes

Last night, as I sat down to read up on the news and tweets from yesterday's protest in Baku, I thought of writing this. Seeing police officers carry peaceful protesters in their arms (literally); blood trickling down from a young man's face brutally treated by the police and those mothers and fathers, holding pictures of their dead sons. Mourning for their children who will never come back, demand justice  and yet our police, cared little of that.

Its not much- few sentences put together and a bit of rhyming.

 

They take, we sit in silence not saying much

They steal, we keep on sitting,  not caring much

They lie, we grow accustomed to things as such

And so we live, in silence, quiet, unattached

Pretending things are well as we detach

Ourselves, our families, and friends

From the reality and finally lost touch

With what is known as freedom and equal rights

But wait, am I asking already for too much?

No! Not much! Its time to act!

To get whats ours, and that's a fact!

No time to sit in silence and not say much

No time to care little or not as much

We can't afford to let ourselves detach

Together, as one voice we must react!