Piecing together Turkey’s fractured opposition

ENAR

Walking up and down Gezi Park, you see them everywhere: young, beautiful and rebelling. They are the new Turkish middle-class —demanding more individual rights, less government intervention in local politics and the right to public space. It is now common knowledge that the government crackdown on a protest at the park was the spark that lit a gas field of anger. The demonstrations raging from Taksim to Besiktas and the protesters barricading streets and chanting slogans against authoritarianism are a testament to a new generation that has come to claim their right to be heard. Yet the extent to which these protests will transform Turkish society remains unclear. The protests were initially against the Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) urban transformation projects in the Taksim area, which have already claimed many historical treasures in the Beyoglu area including old theaters and cafes. What started as a small sit-in developed quickly