‘A Handful of Trees’ and Gezi Resistance

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It was as if we had opened our eyes in a completely different world, it was as if we had woken up to an entirely different life.

Everything was like magic.

A magic that we had never seen or experienced before...

An honorable, breathless struggle waged from May 27 to June 15, 2013.

What have we gained by Gezi Resistance?

What deep-rooted emotions has it left in us so that they will keep thriving deep inside?

It has turned out that everyone can embrace another as a brother or sister without questioning their race, identity, gender, religion, language or lifestyle!

Completely different opinions can apparently coexist in peace!

One can apparently put a napkin on another person's wound, one can bring water for the eyes of another burning with pepper gas.

One can apparently draw a person out of danger, regardless of what flag he or she is holding.

Oh, how much we owe to this "handful of trees"!

For having sparked the first light!

For having introduced us to one another!

For having reminded us of who we were, of our humanity!

For having instilled a new spirit, a light of hope in us!

For having left us the belief that we can always live this uniting, peaceful spirit of Gezi! How much we owe to this "handful of trees"!

"How beautiful is the gas bomb / May it be strawberry-flavored today / Would you want that every child / be born such marauder* one day."

What if Gezi had not taught us that governments poke their ever-extending Pinocchio noses between peoples, that they wash away people's good feelings with various methods and devices round-the-clock and replace them with ugly emotions such as discrimination and racism! What if Gezi had not taught us that there are, in fact, no problems among people!

Then, we would not have the opportunity to eradicate prejudices, as we had been unable to do so for years.

Because learning from experience is more important and effective than trying to explain in words.

And we have seen this quite clearly: No matter what they think or believe in, people know it by heart how to live in peace, by sharing and solidarizing, by coming to each other's help and inviting them to their table and conversation, they know it by heart how to live together at peace.

Gezi Park was a mother's bosom that did not discriminate between any of its children.

Like a mother's bosom, it spread its arms wide for people athirst for friendship, fraternity, freedom, democracy and peace, it embraced them all.

Gathering all colors together, that mother's bosom turned the country into a garden of spring.

Like a lantern igniting our hope, it opened the way for peoples and turned into flashing lights and sounds of pots and pans at homes and balconies, making us live the pleasure and beauty of raising our voices with the same feeling as a whole country.

The note of believing in ourselves without any feelings of evil, hypocrisy or duplicity has been taken down by Gezi Resistance very deep in our hearts. There was no room for discrimination there. The holy day was observed, friday prayers were performed. Sports clubs were arm-in-arm.

Mothers were walking in front of their children.

Women formed human chains at Gezi and on the roads.

It was neither seen nor heard that anyone hurt another.

People believed in each other, they trusted them and loved them.

And, above all else, they were learning that sharing and living in peace could destroy the evil feelings of human soul.

Millions of books were pouring in the "Çapulcu (Marauder) Library" from homes and publishing houses.

We, as the Turkish Writers' Union, worked for the "Çapulcu Library."

We were helping our young friends.

We would carry the parcels together, put the stamp of "Gezi Park" on each book, sort them out and line them up based on their content and hand out books the whole day without having a rest for a single second.

The enthusiasm in our hearts was so great and immense that it did not let us feel the tiredness of our bodies.

Living with peace- and democracy-loving people, sharing something with them, joining the songs in every language, every folk song and folk dance would make us relieved of all negative feelings and fill us with a different healing energy.

It is very important to learn by living, trying and seeing and we have learnt!

That is why, no power can uproot this feeling, this belief that we call "Gezi spirit" from our hearts!

We know it now...

"Mothers, oh mothers / So heartbroken you are / Drops of blood have once again / Spilled inside your hearts."

This enthusiastic resistance was, of course, not unfolding in a bed of roses.

There was a simultaneous life and death situation taking place amid the deadly violence of fascism!

The roads and streets leading to Gezi were constantly under attack.

Gas bombs, plastic bullets, pressurized water...

In short, the state was ruthlessly attacking the resisters with its all power, with all types of attack tools and in every city and, in doing this, the police were hiding the numbers on their helmets!

Apart from security forces, there emerged state-supported creatures who were attacking, injuring, killing people with sticks, döner kebab knives and all types of sharp objects!

As the government declared the ones participating in Gezi Resistance as "marauders" (çapulcu) and "terrorists" and regarded them as enemies, the ones derived from evil intercepted and killed people together with state forces. But, no matter what they did, İstanbul spread its arms wide for Gezi. People of all ages were streaming in, as if they had been going to a carnival.

People from all branches of art laid claim to Gezi Resistance, they laid their beds in Gezi.

On the one side, we were feeling the honor of resisting; on the other, we were bleeding when we saw the news of "how the blind rage of Pharaoh did more than flesh and blood could stand."

Ethem Sarısülük was killed before the eyes of everyone by the bullet of a police officer who aimed at his heart!

Berkin Elvan was shot by a gas canister of a police officer who aimed at his head, he lost his life despite having resisted for a long time.

Mehmet Ayvalıtaş. Abdullah Cömert. Ali İsmail Korkmaz. Ahmet Atakan. Medeni Yıldırım. İrfan Tunç. Selim Önder. Zeynep Eryaşar. Serdar Kadakal.

The have become a part of the eternal spirit of Gezi Resistance, leaving their marks on our hearts.

In Gezi Resistance, which was a peaceful protest and a democratic right, they blinded the eyes of more than forty people.

Thousands of people were wounded and detained.

Despite this hurtful, permanent pain!

Gezi Resistance has taught us something very important.

If we unite, we can defeat this pitch-black darkness, this unlawfulness, this authoritarian, ruthless system of repression.

We can breathe in peace and fraternity.

We can do it... (SA/APA/SD)

* "Marauder" (Çapulcu in Tr.) was, in fact, an expression used by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the then PM of Turkey, to refer to Gezi protesters. However, it was soon reappropriated by protesters themselves.

** The lines of poetry in bold belong to Suna Aras (In Turkish: "Gaz bombası ne güzel/ Bu gün çilekli olsun/ İster misin her çocuk/ Böyle çapulcu doğsun" - "Analar ah analar/ Yandı içiniz yandı/ Kalbimizin içine/ Yine kanlar damladı" - "Canımızdan can çekti firavunun cinneti")

*** Photo: Dada Verd and Barış Karadeniz / Flickr