EFFECTS OF THE GEZI PARK MOVEMENT ON RENEWAL OF THE DEMOCRATIZATION DEBATE IN TURKEY

Abstract

*This is an English version of an original article: Yavuz Yildirim, "Los Efectos Del Movimiento Del Parque Gezi En La Renovacion Del Debate Sobre La Democratizacion En Turquia" in: Un Retrato De La Turquia Contemporanea (eds. Federico Donelli, Alessia Chiriatti, Manuel Férez), Mexico: Universidad Anahuac Mexico, 2016, pp. 299-310.The text presents the history of attempts at democratization of the political system in Turkey, where despite the nominal presence of democratic institutions, changes traditionally have come from the top. Following a brief presentation of the unsuccessful civil movements from the 1970s onwards, it focuses on the 2010s transition in approaches to building democratic culture, and in particular on the Gezi Park resistance, where a relatively minor local issue sparked a country-wide citizens' protest against the conservative democracy of the ruling AK Party. The event is shown as an entirely new type of protest, a spontaneous civil movement with horizontal structure, inspired by the Occupy movements, and an expression of the new generation's approach to politics. It also gave rise to a movement which contributed to rethinking the Turkish democratization process by breaking with the established thinking with a bottom-to-top approach.