GEZI PARK: WHOSE HISTORY IS ERDOGAN RESPECTING?
Le Monde Diplomatique, France
2 July 2013
Exclusive 2 July, by Vicken Cheterian
The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in his defence of
the project of building a new shopping centre and luxury apartments
at the place of Gezi Park in Istanbul, said something symbolic: the
reconstruction plans, which supposedly would resurrect the architecture
of an old military barracks based on the architecture of a 19th
century Ottoman building, would amount to “respecting history (1).”
History is a sensitive question in Turkey, even controversial, and
has done much to forget its own history. So it’s surprising to see
such a fierce struggle now being waged in its name. Amid the host
of media reports, documentaries etc, only a very few recalled that
the park had a history. The Prime Minister could have remembered,
for example, that the architect of the original barracks built in
1806 was Krikor Balian, an Armenian belonging to a famous family of
architects who were in the service of the Sultans (2).
To mention the architect of the old artillery barrack that Erdogan
is aiming to re-construct is not a secondary issue. It is the part
of Turkish and Ottoman history that modern Turkish politicians have
invested enormous efforts to erase and forget: the participation of
religious minorities, such as Greeks, Assyrians, Jews, but especially
Armenians, in the country’s cultural, economic and political life.
More important than the architect though is the memory of a former
Armenian cemetery left to oblivion. The place in which Gezi Park
stands, where the Turkish Prime Minister now wants to build a shopping
mall and a mosque, was once an Armenian cemetery. In 1551, following
an epidemic, the land was given to the Armenian Church by Sultan
Suleyman. It was later enlarged and walled. In 1837 Surp Haop (Saint
James) Armenian Hospital was constructed next to it, and continues
to function. On the ground of the cemetery a church, Saint Gregory
the Illuminator, was also built. And between 1919 and 1922 a monument
dedicated to the Armenian victims of 1915 was erected. The cemetery
was confiscated in 1930, on the pretext that the Armenian Church did
not have a property title for the cemetery. The Armenian Patriarchate
of Istanbul, Mesrob Naroyan, attempted to reclaim the cemetery through
the courts, arguing that Turkish law permitted ownership after fifteen
years of uncontested occupation. But the court supported the government
decision, and imposed a heavy fine on the Church.
The government allowed only two weeks to remove the graves. Some
were taken to the Sisli Armenian cemetery, most were left behind. The
cemetery was then taken over by the authorities, which sold off the
tombstones. Some of the remaining marble stones were later used to
build the staircases and fountain of Gezi Park while the confiscated
land was sold to private businesses – the Turkish radio company TRT
offices, and luxury hotels such as the Divan Hotel, Hyatt, and Hilton
(3).
No one expected the small, environmentalist protest that started to
protect the 600 trees of Gezi Park to become a nation-wide protest
against the policies of Erdogan. “The movement started as environmental
issue and for the protection of cultural heritage. The reason it grew
was because of police violence,” said Sevil Turan, the co-spokesperson
of the Turkish Greens. The way the movement started was unbelievable,
Turan said. “I did not imagine so many people would join the protest
movement. People came because they were so angry with the government,
but at the same time they were so calm, there was no violence.”
“You captured our graveyard, but you can’t capture our park! (4)”
A youth movement called Nor Zartonk (Armenian for “new awakening”
(5)) raised this slogan. Sayat Tekir, its spokesperson, said that
“from the first day we were at Gezi Park.”
This movement resembles the mobilization that followed the
assassination of Hrant Dink, bringing together people from all
horizons. Dink was a Turkish-Armenian journalist and chief-editor of
bilingual weekly Agos, who was assassinated in Istanbul in 2007. Over
a hundred thousand people came out on the streets for his funeral.
The Gezi Park mobilization was equally diverse: various Turkish
political trends (a militant wrapped in the red Turkish flag walked
hand-in-hand with another dressed in a flag with the image of Abdullah
Ocalan). Leftists and nationalists, Turks and Kurds, environmentalists
and anti-capitalists, all came together to oppose what they saw as
increasing authoritarianism of the new Turkish strongman.
Nor Zartonk started as an email discussion forum back in 2004,
made up of Turkish Armenians. But people remained fearful of taking
political action, said Tekir, because of the traditional fear Turkish
Armenians have lived in since 1915. “The assassination of Hrant Dink
was the motor that pushed us to action. We organized conferences and
discussions on the Armenian question, minorities in Turkey, relations
with the European Union, etc., but also took part in demonstrations.
They were part of the mobilization against the closing down of the Emek
movie theatre where, like Gezi Park, municipal authorities wanted to
build a shopping centre. Like Gezi, Emek has a secret story: it was
confiscated from its Jewish owners during the second world war.
On the second week of the latest demonstrations, a group of anti-racism
activists wanted to erect a monument at Gezi Park referring to
the 1919 monument there dedicated to the memory of the victims of
the Armenian genocide. They also wanted to name one of the streets
adjacent to the park “Hrant Dink Caddesi”. They carried banners on
which it was written: “Burdayiz Ahparig!” – we are here, brother (6) !
Tekir said: “Until recently, the Armenian community in Turkey were
frightened and closed in upon themselves, the result of a series of
massacres and repression that started in the late Ottoman period
and continued under the Republic. We want to ask for our rights,
to claim a democratic society.”
Erdogan’s answer to the “Occupy Gezi” movement came in his usual
defiant manner, unmoved by the thousands of citizens demonstrating
against his projects in the face of police repression. “A mosque will
be built in Taksim,” he said, then added that “he did not have to
receive permission from the main opposition leader or a ‘few marauders’
for the projects. (7)” After returning from a tour in North Africa,
the Prime Minister was even harsher in his announcements: “These
protests must end immediately. No power but Allah can stop Turkey’s
rise. The police are doing their duty. These protests, which have
turned into vandalism and utter lawlessness must end immediately.
(8)”
Sevil Turan said: The “AKP has become so strong, it sees there
is no political alternative. Erdogan wants to leave behind him a
monument on Takism Square, build a new, conservative culture. The
Prime Minister remained silent [over the fact] that this was an old
Armenian cemetery.”
For Turan, Gezi Park has introduced a new political culture: “It
was an experience of direct democracy.” Tekir agrees: “Those who
entered the park, and those who went out of it weren’t the same people
anymore. Gezi became a laboratory for political formation.”
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