The demonstrations that broke out across Turkey earlier this year after the police clampdown on an environmentalist protest at Istanbul’s Gezi Park came as a major sociopolitical quake for the country. The first tsunami after the big tremor is beginning to rise as street clashes spread again across Turkey over the Sept. 10 death of a 22-year-old protester in Hatay province. A massive wave of violence could swell and easily engulf Turkey unless the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government recognizes the gravity of the situation and enacts serious measures.
The main factors behind the second wave of protests appear to be distrust of government and state institutions and a widespread conviction that the police enjoy impunity for the crimes they perpetrate.
On Sept. 10, a demonstration in Antakya's Armutlu district — organized to commemorate the death of Abdullah Comert, who was killed during the Gezi protests — quickly degenerated into clashes between demonstrators and police. A young man, Ahmet Atakan, died. A short video circulating on the Internet shows a man falling to the ground next to a police riot vehicle moving under an intense hail of stones from protesters. According to a statement by the Hatay governor’s office, Atakan died after falling off a roof. Witnesses, however, claim that the young man was first shot in the head with a gas canister fired by police and was then hit by a police vehicle. Convinced the police killed Atakan, protesters took to the streets across Turkey and clashed with the security forces. However, a local TV channel’s footage shows Atakan falling from a multistory building, and his uncle Nevzat Atakan appeared on the channel and said, “We are now convinced that he died of falling from that building.”
The statements of the authorities carry little weight because, during the Gezi protests, similar explanations proved untrue. Take for example the case of 19-year-old Ali Ismail Korkmaz, who was injured in the central Anatolian city of Eskisehir and died in the hospital after fighting for his life for 38 days. The local governor’s initial statement that Korkmaz was injured in a brawl among protesters turned out to be completely false. Security camera footage that emerged later showed clearly that Korkmaz was beaten unconscious by police officers, aided by local residents.
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