Why riots in turkey

Demonstrations in Turkey — Protesters escape from tear gas during the crackdown at Gezi Park on June Demonstrations in Turkey — Protestors fire fireworks as police drive them out of Gezi Park on June Turkey's prime minister on Thursday called on protesters camped out in the park to pack up and leave.

Demonstrations in Turkey — A man sleeps in Gezi Park in Istanbul's Taksim Square early on June 12, hours after riot police moved into the square in an attempt to push demonstrators out. Demonstrations in Turkey — Municipal workers clean up a street in Taksim Square early on June 12, after police moved in to disperse protesters.

Demonstrations in Turkey — A protester prepares to throw a tear gas canister back toward police in Taksim Square on Tuesday, June Demonstrations in Turkey — Riot police fire tear gas canisters at protesters in Taksim Square on June Demonstrations in Turkey — Protesters run behind a barricade during clashes with police on June Demonstrations in Turkey — A protester throws a tear gas canister back toward police on June Demonstrations in Turkey — Photographers crowd around a protester posing in front of a riot police vehicle at Taksim Square on June Demonstrations in Turkey — Protesters seek shelter behind a barricade on June Demonstrations in Turkey — Protesters try to run from riot police on June Demonstrations in Turkey — Riot police aim a water cannon at a protester as others take cover behind a makeshift shelter in Taksim Square on June Demonstrations in Turkey — A protester uses a slingshot to throw stones at riot police on June Demonstrations in Turkey — A protester holds fireworks during clashes with riot police in Istabul on June Demonstrations in Turkey — Riot police use water cannons and tear gas to disperse a crowd near Istabul's Taksim Square on June Demonstrations in Turkey — Police fire a water cannon at protesters on June Demonstrations in Turkey — A protester throws a stone during clashes with riot police on June Demonstrations in Turkey — Protesters run from smoke as they clash with police in Istanbul on June Demonstrations in Turkey — Protesters take cover behind a barricade as fireworks go off nearby on June Riot police doused thousands of protesters in Ankara with tear gas and jets of water for a second straight night.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned protesters who have taken to the streets demanding his resignation that his patience has its limits and compared the unrest with an army attempt six years ago to curb his power.

Demonstrations in Turkey — A demonstrator is detained by police officers as protests resumed in Kizilay Square in Ankara on Sunday, June 9. Demonstrations in Turkey — A demonstrator covers his face with a makeshift gas mask during protests in Kizilay Square in Ankara on June 9. Erdogan told supporters that "even patience has an end" as he went on the offensive against mass protests that have consumed Ankara and Istanbul.

Demonstrations in Turkey — Erdogan addresses supporters from the top of a bus as police stand guard at Esenboga International Airport in Ankara on June 9. Demonstrations in Turkey — A demonstrator runs toward police during clashes with riot police in Istanbul, on Saturday, June 8.

Erdogan said today his Islamic-rooted government was open to "democratic demands" and hit back at EU criticism of his government's handling of a week of unrest. Demonstrations in Turkey — Supporters of Erdogan wave the Turkish flag upon the prime minister's arrival in Istanbul, on June 7. Demonstrations in Turkey — A mother and her daughter read notes placed by protestors on a destroyed car in Taksim Square on June 6. Thousands of striking union members joined the anti-government protests on June 5, marching in Istanbul and Ankara in a sea of red and white union flags, drumming and yelling for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to resign.

Demonstrations in Turkey — A municipal worker collects garbage set on fire by Turkish protesters in a restaurant district of Ankara on June 5.

Demonstrations in Turkey — Protesters confront police forces during riots in a restaurant district of Ankara, on June 5. Demonstrations in Turkey — Demonstrators run for cover as police use water cannons and tear gas on the crowd in Ankara on June 5.

Demonstrations in Turkey — Riot police fire tear gas at demonstrators in Istanbul on June 4. Demonstrations in Turkey — Paramedics carry a woman injured during clashes between demonstrators and riot police in Istanbul on June 4.

Demonstrations in Turkey — Turkish police detain a demonstrator during clashes in Istanbul on June 4. Demonstrations in Turkey — Demonstrators wave their national flag on June 4, during a protest in Ankara.

Demonstrations in Turkey — Protesters cover their faces with plastic. After chaotic scenes in the streets Monday that continued late into the night and sent tear gas wafting through the air, the situation was relatively calm on Tuesday morning in Istanbul's central Taksim Square, near the park where the movement began.

Demonstrations in Turkey — A demonstrator takes cover at a road block between Taksim and Besiktas in Istanbul on June 4. Demonstrations in Turkey — Protestors pass bricks for building barricades during clashes with riot police in Istanbul on June 3.

Demonstrations in Turkey — Riot policemen unload tear gas during clashes in Istanbul on June 3. Demonstrations in Turkey — Protesters throw riot police's tear gas back at them in Istanbul on June 3. Demonstrations in Turkey — Protester wounds are treated during clashes in Istanbul on June 3.

Demonstrations in Turkey — Demonstrators set up road blocks between Taksim and Besiktas. Barricades remain up around the square, and Erdogan's opponents appear determined to continue the demonstrations despite the prime minister's comment on June 3 that he expects the situation to return to normal "within a few days.

Demonstrations in Turkey — A medical team tends to a protester. The extraordinary measures adopted following the failed coup attempt had severe implications for the civic engagement.

Recurrent bans and restrictions on public gatherings and assemblies under an extended state of emergency significantly narrowed civic space. At the same time, with a large number of arrests and closure of many civil society organizations, the boundaries of what was politically permissible in terms of civil society activities in Turkey has changed.

The widespread uncertainty and fear that followed put immense pressure on civic activists. These developments affected Turkish civic activism across the board. Many people who had actively joined in the protests a few years earlier started to shy away from demonstrations and limit their support to social media. As a result, activist groups shrank in size, fewer people turned out for the protests, and the impact of street activism waned. That said, the activist groups took different pathways and adopted new strategies to weather the current conditions.

Understanding the difficulty in rallying people for protests, civic activists in some groups chose to lie low and focus their attention on community events and social gatherings instead. Activist groups shifted toward these alternate activities for two key reasons: increasing community cohesion and attracting new supporters.

First, even though activists emphasize the importance of people coming together for a cause, they also note that, today, many people would not join civic groups solely to participate in a protest.

In doing this, they remind their supporters of their cause. For instance, some of the LGBT groups want to live their identity more freely without clashing with the state. Likewise, meetings with other activists give participants the feeling that they are not alone at a time when many activists lie low and their activities are not visible. This becomes a source of motivation for activists and also helps them retain the established networks and prevent their supporters from completely breaking away.

This approach may help explain why Vote and Beyond continues to attract a growing number of volunteers as observers for successive elections. There has been widespread concern about election security in Turkey and suspicion that elections are increasingly manipulated.

Election monitoring allows people to get involved in certain democratic processes without being directly involved in party politics. In this way, they can take action to address a problem that concerns them without taking to the streets and risking a direct confrontation with security forces.

Second, some of these events have become an avenue through which civic activists attract new supporters for their cause. In particular, during the trekking and camping activities, the environmentalists introduce their cause to new groups in an indirect way. With these walks, the activists also try to overcome the public perception that nothing is left of the northern forests.

These activities provide an important opportunity to show people what is still at stake. At the same time, despite the prevalent fear and shrinking numbers of supporters, environmentalists continue to stage protests. With only a handful of protesters participating and no press attending or mentioning the event, they sometimes feel that they stage the demonstrations without wider support. In addition, they may be focusing on hyperspecific local issues with less ambitious targets, which prevents them from appealing to a broader audience.

However, some groups continue their work because these demonstrations preserve the momentum for activism in the face of current unfavorable conditions. For activists, organizing protests is more than merely a way of reacting to a concrete grievance. No matter what the outcome may be, it also has become a tool for retaining hope and belief in civic activism, until the right moment comes for the next mass movement.

Given their fluid structure and social-media-based organization, it often is difficult for civic activists to retain momentum. To mitigate this problem, some groups have evolved into a structure that mirrors a traditional civil society organization.

For instance, activists at Northern Forests Defense set up working groups, prepare action plans, and develop strategies, particularly for issues that require long-term attention. Some of these groups have even established formal organizations; however, they chose to take this additional step because Turkish law requires organizations to have a legal identity in order to rent an office or raise funds. The Gezi protests embodied a reaction to existing political structures and a call for a change in governance.

Opting for the current political parties would have been against what many of the protesters demanded. Ultimately though there is an economic crisis in Turkey and they know they are going to lose votes … they are just trying to divide people. Over the last five years, more than a dozen universities across the country have been shut down.

If this was not a serious problem would we be protesting out here, sleeping in the streets? We are human beings, we have a right to housing. For many of the protesting students, unaffordable housing has been the latest in a string of economic troubles their families have dealt with in recent years.

Now the situation is serious enough that we have ended up in the streets to have our problems addressed. Yilmaz says rents near his university have more than doubled since before the pandemic, and he lives in a household with a fixed income. Rents in Turkish cities have increased dramatically during the pandemic, according to official statistics and realtors, even as weeks-long lockdowns and other measures to halt the spread of the virus have thrown a wrench into the economic machinery of the country.

A September survey by the Istanbul Municipality found that 95 percent of residents said rent was too high for them, and some 41 percent had been forced to delay paying it since the start of the pandemic. Meanwhile, Turkey has seen painful increases in prices for consumer goods. The Turkish lira has continued to suffer severe bouts of volatility, falling to a new all-time low this week.

Authorities have implemented temporary economic relief measures, briefly selling subsidised produce through municipalities, putting a ban on firing state employees, offering modest monthly cash handouts, and helping pay the salaries of some workers.