DAYS IN ISTANBUL
Time flies and life flows. I just cannot keep up with it..
Judas trees have blossomed everywhere. The two sides of the Bosphorus have been painted purple colour of Judas trees.
It has been a mild winter this year. Trees have blossomed quite early but as a result of not too warm weather, blossoms have occupied the trees joyfully for a long while.
İstanbul has a different kind of green cloth this year.
Today is 1st of May; I have cleaned the old leaves and collected the faded flowers amongst the leaves of my flower pots in the small terrace.
Istanbul has surrendered to the mass meeting today. Public transport does not work. Workers’ Day celebrations will be held in Taksim.
The demonstrations in Ankara last week and in Istanbul on Sunday in Çağlayan Hürriyet Square were the first stirs.
An atmosphere of civil insurrection; forming groups to pronounce complaints and expressing opinions in public squares against the government and the president to be elected… Sensitive and responsive women and others from the age of seven to seventies have poured down to the streets for the sake of Secularism and Republic, and to remind Ataturk’s essentials…. and we live a huge mass meeting where the magnificent green of spring gets intermingled with the red of our flag.
World press and TVs publish all these in their flash news of the day…
On 1 May 1977, 34 people were killed during the demonstrations held in Taksim Square and this event has been recorded in history as "Kanlı 1 Mayıs" (Bloody 1 May).
Despite all the prohibitions, 1 May demonstrations were held after 30 years in Taksim this year. ... I am watching in the TV, arrests and civil turmoil again…
We are in the flash news of the world media once again…
Independent newspaper announces this to the world as: “Turkey’s crisis schedule”…
”Tuesday: Following several secularist demonstrations, the Islamic Prime Minister of Turkey, Tayyip Erdoğan, revealed that he will not be candidate for presidency and presented the Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül as the candidate.
Friday: the Turkish Army has warned that they will interfere in the presidency elections and summoned the Government to prevent the militant Islamic impact. The opponent law makers have boycotted the first tour of the election in the Parliament and applied to the Constitutional Court.
Sunday: at least 700 thousand demonstrators poured down to Istanbul streets and protested the ruling AK Party.
Monday: Constitutional Court started to evaluate the application of the opposition party. If the court refuses this, the last tour of the presidency elections will take place on 9th May.”
Where have I come from the spring blossoms and Judas trees?
I guess we have closed this demonstration day, which the governorship of Istanbul banned, with a few demonstrations, seventeen thousand policemen and about six hundred arrests.
Lodos (Southwest) wind blows the curtains; the leaves on the terrace rustle and the spring sun heats my neck… Primroses and geraniums sparkle joyfully amongst the newly growing leaves.. Seagulls that made nests on the chimney fly over my head in a rush drawing circles on the air… They control my movements so that the mother bird watching over the eggs is not harmed.
I do not want turmoil, fights and uncertainties to be the main topics of my country again…
I only want stability in this country where our grand children will live, nothing else…
We are not different from the seagulls… All we want is preservation of our homes and to be able to live in freedom, that’s all.
Tülin Erkaya
1 Mayıs 2007