‘Taksim is May Day Square, We Won’t Give up’

* Photos: Evrim Kepenek/bianet

Click to read the article in Turkish

"The laments, folk songs, anthems and remarks that we chanted after our friends massacred in this square in 1977 cannot be chanted here anymore. Today, it is forbidden to say 'Long live May Day' here. This ban is not in place only today. This place has been banned to us for a long time now. They don't want us to commemorate our friends who lost their lives here.

"They have been in a circle here for years and we will keep on being here under all circumstances. We won't forget the May 1, 1977 Massacre. We won't forget the women and youth dragged on the ground and killed here. We are here today because we don't forget. We might look few in number due to corona outbreak, but the heart of our generation beats here..."

It is rights defender Nimet Tanrıkulu who is speaking. She is right on Kazancı Slope at Taksim Square in İstanbul, with a group of others who have come here to commemorate and make people remember the ones who were massacred here on May Day in 1977.

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Reporters keep social distance as well

When the group and reporters are preparing to enter the site of commemoration, the police warn them to keep their social distance. Abiding by this warning as part of coronavirus measures, the group hang a banner with the pictures of the ones who lost their lives here in 1977.

Press members also keep social distance while reporting on the commemoration. This year's ceremony seems to be attended by fewer people in comparison with the previous years, but their message is as strong as before: "We don't forget our friends."

The ceremony is attended by Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) MP Musa Piroğlu and representatives from the 78s' Initiative, Labor Movement Party, Revolutionary Party, Socialist Party of the Oppressed, Partisan, HDP, Karşı Art Works, University Faculty Members Association, Green Left Party.

'Taksim is a public place'

Before reading out the statement, Tanrıkulu reminds us of the coronavirus measures and notes that thousands of people have to go out everyday despite "stay home" calls because they have to work. She also raises concerns that male violence has increased at homes during pandemic.

Tanrıkulu then reads out the following statement:

"In Taksim, on Kazancı Slope, 43 years ago, on May 1, 1977, our 34 friends were 'heinously' massacred in accordance with the 'high' policies of murderer power-holders and military junta-civilian clique.

"The blood of our friends was spilled on this square, it was spilled on Kazancı Slope. Their blood mixed with the soil, trees and green on this concretized square. No one has been brought to account for it for 43 years.

"Even a monument has not been erected in their names so that the massacre will be forgotten, so that no one will know about it.

"We cannot leave our massacred friends - with their blood spilled on this square - under the soil, behind our back 'sad and poor' - As Ahmet Arif puts it! We won't give up! Taksim is a public place! It is a place of freedom! There are places like this all around the world.

'They don't want to hear the people's objections'

"Red Square in Moscow, Tiananmen Square in Beijing, Concorde Square in Paris, San Marco Square in Venice, Times Square in New York, Trafalgar Square in London, Old City Square in Prague and Taksim Square in İstanbul are the leading ones among these squares.

"The public places of modern times are squares like them. A modern person is a person who objects. People object on squares.

"They don't want to hear people's objections. They ban public places of freedom. They want to put an end to Taksim Square's public character.

"The Ottomans didn't have the culture of public squares. There was Sultanahmet Square in their time, but this sqaure was used for hanging people. They are tormenting the progressive people of Turkey who lay claim to their squares of freedom. We won't give up!

"Gezi Resistance also took place on this square. New horizons have been opened for the young generations who set out to change the world. The songs of freedom sung by millions of people for years and years must have penetrated into the stones and soil of Taksim, into its trees, into the walls of centuries-old Water Administration building. Taksim is the May Day Square!

'Long Live May Day, Biji Yek Gulan'

"On May 1, 1977, our friends lost their lives on this square. We won't give up! Until Taksim Square is recognized as the May Day Square by the law... We won't give up! Until the Commission for Investigating the Reality of Massacre and Justice is established and until the criminals and power-holders of the massacre are put on trial... We won't give up! Until a monument is erected on Kazancı Slope in Taksim in memory of the massacred... We are crying out once again: Long Live May Day, Biji Yek Gulan!"

After Tanrıkulu reads out the statement for the press, the group listen to the May Day anthem and lay carnations on Kazancı Slope.

(EMK/SD)