It has been a month since the eruption that broke out at Gezi Park in Istanbul spread to many cities in Turkey. But tectonic tremors and aftershocks still continue. The political rule, although not under threat, has lost a lot of face, and it is doubtful whether it will ever get it back. Turkey’s recent history is now divided into pre-Gezi and post-Gezi periods. With each passing day, the political leadership seems to become less able to correctly diagnose any development.
The mistakes that were made at Taksim Square and Gezi Park were repeated on June 28, when in the Lice township of Diyarbakir province a group of 200 to 250 Kurdish villagers were strafed protesting the construction of a military outpost in the town. On June 29, this time in Diyarbakir, security forces tried to head off demonstrations by using pepper spray and water cannons against protesters. Remember how quiet it was in Diyarbakir and in Turkey’s Kurdish regions during the Istanbul protests? It was calm there — so much so that police vehicles were transferred from the Kurdish regions to Istanbul.
