Istanbul’s Troubled Gardens: Gezi Park’s Flowers
Posted by Elif Batuman
This is the first of two parts.
The current protests in Turkey started about seven weeks ago, when demonstrators set up an encampment in Gezi Park, near Istanbul’s central Taksim Square. They were hoping to prevent the park’s destruction, which was planned to make way for a government-backed shopping mall, to be housed in a reconstructed Ottoman barracks. The government, led by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, responded harshly, raiding the encampment with tear gas and water cannons. On June 15th, after more than two weeks of clashes, riot police stormed the park, driving protesters into a nearby hotel, where they continued to bombard them with gas.
More:Istanbul's Troubled Gardens: Gezi Park's Flowers : The New Yorker
