Turkish Attorney General has concluded the case of accusations against the Gezi Park resisters and demonstrators during the 2013 uprisings

Turkish Attorney General has concluded the case of accusations against the Gezi Park resisters and demonstrators during the 2013 uprisings.

The AG demands life imprisonment sentences for some defendants as well as extended prison sentences for others. The case will be heard by courts once the proceedings start later this year.

In a concocted case of accusations, the government claims the defendants targeted the entire Turkish State, tried toppling the government, and prevented the officials from conducting their duties.  The defendants are linked by shady, suspicious and openly ridiculous claims by the government to 2013 Gezi Park demonstrations in Istanbul.

In 2013 people of Istanbul had taken to the streets to prevent the government from destroying one of the last standing small patch of green space and turning it into a shopping mall.  The protest suddenly grew to huge demonstrations and morphed into a comprehensive expression of discontent against the oppressive, dictatorial government of the ruling AKP party.  For months, the police attacked the peaceful and non-violent protesters with batons, water cannons, tanks, tear gas, bullets and brutal beatings.  The demands of the people grew from simply protecting trees to demands for democracy, human rights, women’s rights, equality, LGBTQ rights, healthcare, education and anti-racism.  Except for one, all provinces in Turkey soon witnessed similar protests in support of the demonstrators in Istanbul.

The government, paralyzed and surprised by the support the demonstrators received from the general public, escalated its attacks while trying to discredit the popular uprising.  The Turkish government, similar to the “Russiagate” excuses in the US and UK after losing elections to Trump, accused “foreign meddling” behind the protests.  The second accusation, of course, was the now tired and boring accusation of “terrorism” the government brandishes at any and all criticism against itself.

The case against protesters accuse 16 names as the leaders which include known critics of the government and journalists.  Turkish government claims these conspired for more than 3 years to foment the protests and hence acted against the well-being of the Turkish State.

During the protests, main stream media and pro-government media had either cowered or colluded with the government and refused airing any news about the events that lasted for months right-smack downtown in the largest city in Turkey.  CNN-Turk was condemned by the demonstrators later for choosing to air penguin documentaries when the street fights between the police and the demonstrators waged right outside their offices.

Capul TV, a people’s on-line news channel formed at the time of the protests aired street resistance and police brutality against the mostly young, educated people.   Reporting under heavy attacks and tear gas directly from the park where the government planned to build the shopping mall, Capul TV was able to reach millions through the internet.  This proved invaluable as people around the world and in the country tried to get news of events when the corporate and government media failed in their responsibilities.  The Turkish Attorney General took an exception against the Capul TV’s broadcasts in its case and extended several pages to demonize the truthful reporting by the same.

The case against demands for democracy at Gezi will be heard in the courts in coming months.  Interestingly, unable to understand the demands for democracy, equality and human rights, the government accused “FETO” and “Otpor” as the organizers behind the protests.  FETO is the illegal and secret religious organization that helped form the current government with the apparent and known ruling AKP party as the front. Later the secret FETO and the legal AKP parted ways and became enemies. Otpor is the organization behind the Serbia uprisings during the plan to dismantle the former Yugoslavia.

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