It came as a surprise; you could see that etched on the face of the İstanbul mayor’s wife. She held it together well during the whole of the day, but late in the evening one could only imagine.
In reality no one should have been surprised. The charges had been growing against him, and on the day, they were so vast and far-ranging that if true he would never see the light of day again.
Street protests were banned, but a large CHP rally took place in the evening. Quickly, however, it became clear that his arrest had merely been the spark, with deep seated grievances bubbling under the surface.
A motorway was blocked in Ankara and then the following night largely peaceful demonstrations were met with watercannons, pepper spray and in one incident rubber bullets. The people had reached boiling point.
For the demonstrators, the country had taken a direction that they no longer wanted to a be a part of.
Divided
In the previous evening, I rather lost it, and was in fact lost. A red and painful mist descended on me. Peaceful demonstrators being attacked or, as some channels saw it, peaceful police being attacked. This was the division laid bare.
In the morning, I scanned through the mainstream and official news channels. Who continued to show video footage of people counting a vast amount of money, claiming this was money stolen by the CHP. It is on continual loop and it is easy to see how a family struggling to prepare a table for iftar may believe it is true and react accordingly, whether it is or not.
Events here are also being reported by the world press. The BBC managed to find the only English-speaking Turkish reporter who can’t speak English. It was incoherent. Channel4 UK captured images of demonstrators. France24 has an old school English reporter living in Ankara, who explained current events clearly and with insight. Professor James Lindsay on Youtube looked at the historical context and what might happen next.
As the day now moves into the afternoon the country will soon know if the İstanbul mayor is going to be charged, if so the markets and many people’s hearts will sink…
I am writing this the following day now. Late yesterday afternoon the charges became clearer. For over an hour my wife tried to explain them and the evidence to me. It appeared that someone saw something and said something to someone about this and then… I don’t know. “So, someone saw someone take a council pencil and didn’t bring it back,” I joked with typical English black humour. My wife looked at me worried, this was no laughing matter as I was to see as the night unfolded. Tension was in the air, social media outlets were blocked then unblocked, live news was taken down then back on again. He was being questioned by the prosecutor and was likely to be charged and await trial in a political prison. By early morning nothing happened so I went to bed my head full of images of water cannons, rubber bullets etc once again.
I also thought of Nazım Hikmet, was history repeating itself?
In the morning, he was charged and I pressed my prized book of Nazım’s poetry close to me. (DM/VK)