Erdoğan calls Gezi Park protesters 'sluts'

Photo: AA

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President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has called the citizens who attended the 2013 Gezi Park protesters against his government "sluts."

"We are on the ninth anniversary of the events called the Gezi events, which went down in our history as a document of betrayal, shame and vandalism," he said today (June 1) at his party's parliamentary group meeting.

CLICK - Ninth anniversary of Gezi Park protests: Police use tear gas against crowd

"The events had been ignited at the end of May and the start of June with the claim that a couple of trees were cut down in the Gezi Park," he said, adding that the protests had turned into an uprising targeting Turkey's government and its international interests.

Erdoğan once again claimed that the protesters "went into a mosque with bottles of beer," which was refuted by the mosque's clerics. The clerics were appointed to mosques in the outskirts of İstanbul after their statements.

The president has repeated this claim since the protests took place without proof to back it up. The last time he mentioned it was late April when the case concerning the Gezi Park protests ended in the conviction of eight people for "attempted overthrow of the government" and "aiding the attempt," in what is widely considered a politically motivated verdict.

CLICK - Erdoğan repeats refuted claims about Gezi Park protests

"They are corrupt, they are sluts*, they know nothing about a holy mosque," he remarked. "We know who were behind the Gezi events where public buildings, police vehicles, ambulances, businesses, civilian cars, municipal buses, streets and parks were burned down."

About the large banner that members of the Workers' Party of Turkey (TİP) hung on the Bosphorus Bridge yesterday, Erdoğan said, "you will pay for it before the law."

CLICK - Timeline of Gezi Resistance

"And you?"

After Erdoğan's remarks, the word sürtük, "slut" for Turkish, became a trending topic on Twitter in Turkey, with many citizens and public figures lashing out at him.

Canan Kaftancıoğlu, the İstanbul head of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), wrote, "And you?" quoting a tweet containing Erdoğan's video insulting the protesters.

Ya sen? https://t.co/8rexrsSzHQ

— Canan Kaftancıoğlu (@Canan_Kaftanci) June 1, 2022

"I was at Gezi with my baby boy. It's not your place. Can we file a suit for insult now? He is really out of control..." a citizen wrote.

Şirin Payzın, a renowned journalist and TV presenter, wrote, "If a president calls his country's women sluts, then there is a serious problem. All women, especially her daughters, must reject this language. What does slut mean? What does thug mean? If you are looking for terrorists, you can start from the ISIS leader, who is said to be in İstanbul."

Ahmet Ümit, a novelist, wrote, "Sluts? Does the president call the women of his country sluts? Did I hear it right?"

*The president used the work sürtük, which means "A woman who spends time outside a lot," "A woman who has more than one boyfriend at the same time" or "prostitute," according to the Turkish Language Association (TDK), the country's official regulatory body for language.

(AÖ/VK)