Gezi Park and EuroMaidan: social movements at the borders

Abstract

Both Turkey and Ukraine are located at the external borders of the European Union (EU), and are seen as important partners of the EU, especially in terms of economic relations and strategic partnership. Both countries experienced en masse protest events in 2013: the Gezi Park protests and EuroMaidan, starting, respectively, in May 2013 and November 2013. Although these protests started initially for different reasons – the brutal eviction of a sit-in organized for protecting the trees in Taksim Gezi Park and the Ukrainian government's abandonment of EU trade agreement talks – and seem spatially, temporally and ideologically separate, they both include claims related to a “more just and transparent system”. Such claims are not purely political and are closely linked to a social dimension, especially in terms of local and European space-making. This article aims to understand the importance of Gezi Park and EuroMaidan within the framework of new social movements in terms of space-making and the perception of human rights, democracy, justice, identitarian politics and consensual social relations as Euro-concepts or European ideals.

Keywords:

• civil society
• collective action
• democracy
• EuroMaidan
• Europeanization
• Gezi Park
• new social movements
• space-making

Notes

1. Map of European Enlargement www.learneurope.eu/files/8913/7508/4281/Enlargements_of_the_EU_1958_2013_en.jpg.

2. According to the Eurobarometer survey published in February 2011 (European Commission 2011), levels of trust in justice (53% − 12 since autumn 2009) and religious institutions (53% − 11 since autumn 2007) have fallen sharply in Turkey. According to the Standard Eurobarometer survey published in Autumn 2012 (European Commission 2012), trust has fallen sharply after rising in Spring 2012 (45% − 12 percentage points for the government and 44% − 10 for the parliament).

3. Numbers may vary according to sources. These numbers are presented by Hürriyet Daily News. http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/explosions-hit-turkish-town-on-border-with-syria-killing-four-and-injuring-18.aspx?pageID=238&nID=46682&NewsCatID=341.

4. http://taksimdayanisma.org/sokakta-birlestik-sokakta-kazanacagiz.

5. http://maidantranslations.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/manifesto_eng1.pdf.

6. It is noted in Civicus's 2013 State of Civil Society Survey, hundreds of trade unionists, lawyers, intellectuals, academics and journalists faced spurious terrorism-related charges. The trials were based on legitimate expression of views or peaceful activities in relation to Kurdish matters, including public statements, participation in a protest or the provision of legal assistance. At the end of 2012, the trade union confederation, (Kamu Emekçileri Sendikaları Konfederasyonu), had nearly 70 members in detention and the Human Rights Association (İnsan Hakları Derneği [IHD]) had 15 of its executives.

7. Taksim is the district where Gezi Park is located and Taksim Square is important in the political life of Turkey. It is an iconic location especially for the leftist social movements and has a place in the ‘memory of the streets’ as a memoir of public space and significant especially in terms of ‘taking back the streets’ (Fırat 2014, 7–8).

8. http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/voices/uprising-ukraine-how-it-all-began.