Is Turkey, After Gezi Protests, On Path to Democratization?
The democratization package to be proposed by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyep Erdogan may address some of the concerns of Turkish citizens.
Since the Gezi protests that began at a small park in Istanbul in May and then spread in waves to the entire country, a heated debate has been raging about the direction the regime in Turkey is headed. Will the government undertake increasingly authoritarian and fascist actions in response to the protests? Will some already problematic democratic rights and freedoms be even more restricted? If the regime becomes increasingly authoritarian, will Turkey be splintered from Europe and the West?
For months, many intellectuals have been pondering these questions and searching for answers from every new development.
The larger picture that appeared immediately after the Gezi protests was scary and disquieting. The police responded to protests with extremely harsh methods by using disproportionate force. Five protesters lost their lives because of this disproportionate force. Gas canisters targeting protesters caused the loss of sight for many protesters. Use of gas against peaceful demonstrators and firing gas into indoor spaces where demonstrators had taken shelter were indicative of police brutality that could well be categorized as torture by international human-rights law standards. That wasn’t all. Many demonstrators before being transported to police stations were badly beaten up inside police vans and on the streets.
The omens of the hardening of the regime were not confined to police brutality. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in successive mass rallies he organized to deter the protesters crudely threatened businessmen and artists who were supporting the Gezi protests and promised that they will be held to account for their deeds.
