The youthful energy of street protest is breathing life back into failing progressive parties – and it’s a model that could be applied everywhere
- Ece Temelkuran is a Turkish journalist and political commentator
After 22 years of power grabs, the seizure of all state institutions and severe oppression aimed at reshaping Turkish citizens into Islamofascist minions, Turkey is striking back against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s authoritarianism. In cities across the country, including the regime’s strongholds, protests have been ongoing for the past week.
Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu’s detention on bogus corruption charges this week galvanised the people; within days, the protests evolved into something bigger – a national riot demanding democracy, dignity and freedom. The protests reminded many of the Gezi uprising of 2013, yet this time the young people who we thought had lost all hope for the future under Erdoğan and during the severe economic crisis took to the streets, risking limitless police violence by attending public gatherings which are now banned.
Ece Temelkuran is a Turkish journalist and political commentator, and author of How to Lose a Country: The 7 Steps from Democracy to Dictatorship
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