Turkey Opinion: How to Turn The Turkish Summer into a Democratic Movement

[Editor's Note: Ali Yenidunya has also spoken this morning with BBC WM Radio --- the interview begins at the 2:09.12 mark.]

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Within the space of a few days, tens of thousands of protestors have been on streets of Turkey's major cities, clashing with police forces, who have been accused of using excessive force against them.

According to the Turkish Medical Association, two people have died in the clashes so far. Almost 2000 have been wounded, two critically and five being treated in intensive care.

After the environmental initiative that sparked the conflict, protesters have agreed on a gentlemen’s agreement that forbids one party hijacking the demonstrations and turning it into their own private rally. Though protestors are predominantly secular nationalists, varying leftist and anarchist groups are also on the ground fighting side by side.

So far, therefore, the wave of protests have reflected a wider people’s initiative. People go to work in the morning and after dinner they go out and demonstrate. The protests have shown that young people are tired of politics and don't want any more government restrictions.

By the same token, however, this situation makes further demonstrations difficult to organise and direct into a political agenda. Beyond what we see on streets, Turkish protesters need a solid strategy to carry this initial surge of popular anger to wider victory. Without leaders or clear demands, there is no future for this movement.

So what does Turkey need? First and foremost, the declaration of a general strike. This is not because a strike will shake the government’s authority, but because people will no longer need to go to work and abandon in the morning what they gained the night before.

Protestors need to occupy areas and free them from tear gas and tyranny. Such symbolic places would create conditions for accelerating the momentum of protests across the country. Just as Taksim Square is the birthplace of the protests, every liberated center in every town would bee an attachment to that heart of Turkey's nascent revolution. Moreover, this will heighten the sense that the Government is losing public space.

People can build up communities inside liberated areas, speaking and addressing issues freely, holding democratic votes on general issues, and maintaining this civilian enthusiasm through cooperation and productivity.

What matters most at this stage --– until the protest movement is politically mature enough to have its own identity --– is to continue and nurture the soul of this civil activism, while increasing the tension with the authorities. The more provocative the people's initiative becomes, the greater the police response –-- which, at the end of the day, will consolidate the idea that every gain must be preserved at all cost.

This will break the political limits imposed on the movement and the official context that restricts the protests to some specific notions, such as the "trees of the Gezi Park" and "‘the construction of a mosque in Taksim", reducing the demonstrators to "the marginals".