A wave of demonstrations and civil unrest in Turkey began on 28 May 2013, initially to contest the urban development plan for Istanbul's Taksim Gezi Park. The protests were sparked by outrage at the violent eviction of a sit-in at the park protesting the plan. Subsequently, supporting protests and strikes took place across Turkey, protesting against a wide range of concerns at the core of which were issues of freedom of the press, of expression and of assembly, as well as the AKP government's erosion of Turkey's secularism. With no centralised leadership beyond the small assembly that organised the original environmental protest, the protests have been compared to the Occupy movement and the May 1968 events. Social media played a key part in the protests, not least because much of the Turkish media downplayed the protests, particularly in the early stages. Three and a half million people are estimated to have taken an active part in almost 5,000 demonstrations across Turkey connected with the original Gezi Park protest. Twenty-two people were killed and more than 8,000 were injured, many critically.
Protests on 6 June, with the slogan "Do not submit"
2011 protests against internet censorship
Taksim Military Barracks, built 1806, turned into Taksim Stadium in 1921, and demolished in 1940
Gezi Park as seen from the Marmara Hotel on Taksim Square
Gezi Park is an urban park next to Taksim Square, in Istanbul's Beyoğlu district. It is one of the last green spaces in Beyoğlu and one of the smallest parks of Istanbul. In May 2013, plans to replace the park with a reconstruction of the former Taksim Military Barracks, intended to house a shopping mall, sparked the nationwide 2013 protests in Turkey.
Taksim Gezi Park
Armenian tombstones from the Pangaltı Armenian Cemetery, discovered in 2013 during the excavations for the pedestrianization project of Taksim Square. The cemetery was located on the northern section of Taksim Gezi Park.
One of the main entrance gates, designed in Orientalist style, of the Halil Pasha Artillery Barracks (1806) which was transformed into Taksim Stadium in 1921. The building was demolished between 1939 and 1940 to be replaced by the southern section of Taksim Gezi Park.
An elderly woman with Turkish flag on Taksim Square during the 2013 protests