The US House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, and Emerging Threats held a session June 26 in Washington, DC, on the Gezi Park protests. The members of the subcommittee heard from me as a “witness.” Based on written testimony submitted to subcommittee members beforehand, I shared my opinions and observations about the Gezi Park resistance with the congressional members and answered their questions.

In Congress, anyone invited to address a committee in special session is referred to as a “witness,” but in this case, I am an authentic witness because the apartment I live in at Taksim Square is only a few hundred meters from the focal point of the protests that started on 31 May when the police intervened against a few hundred activists at Gezi Park. In subsequent days, the heavy use of pepper gas affected me more than a few times while sitting on my balcony or after opening the window of my den. When Taksim Square and Gezi Park were under the control of the protesters, I had the possibility of observing the events "on location."

In the two-hour committee session titled “Turkey at a Crossroads: What Do the Gezi Park Protests Mean for Democracy in the Region?”, the following also testified: Hillel Fradkin, Hudson Institute; Soner Cagaptay, Washington Institute for Near East Policy; former US ambassador to Ankara James F. Jeffrey; and Kadir Ustun, Politics, from the Economy and Social Research Foundation (SETA), which is known to be close to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). The testimonies of the witnesses can be found on the committee's website.

To inform us of the interests of the subcommittee members prior to the session, we were provided questions in advance that the Republican and Democratic members had prepared. Some of the questions were grouped under subheadings: for example, on the effect of protests on the “Turkish model,” the capacity of Turkey to cope with the Syrian crisis; and the peace process with the Kurds and the new constitutional process. They also asked whether this movement would wither away.