24-25 May 2014 Place: Cezayir Meeting Hall Hayriye Caddesi 12, Galatasaray, Beyoğlu-İstanbul One year has passed since the protests that spread all over Turkey. This seems to be the right time to...
24-25 May 2014
Place: Cezayir Meeting Hall
Hayriye Caddesi 12, Galatasaray, Beyoğlu-İstanbul
One year has passed since the protests that spread all over Turkey. This seems to be the right time to evaluate our lesions and experiences of the protest. When thinking about Gezi, the spirit of solidarity, the belief that things will never be the same again, that everyone will take a lesson from this process of transformation and change prevail. Furthermore, with the protests expectations arose for a more democratic and accountable country with a view to corruption, a country in which people protect their cities. Therefore it is important to understand the scope and depth of the protests in Turkey in the summer of 2013. What were the demands of this resistance? Why did the protestors go out in the streets? Who were the bearers of the protests in different cities of Turkey? What did the protestors aim at and what did they reach out of their actions in the end?
Such as Turkey, the neighboring countries are also experiencing similar protests. Although different in the nature of demands, these protests are alike in such aspects as the participants to the protests and the forms of protest. In the new protests, the role of the old and deep rooted civil society organizations seems to have been less important. The protests are mainly run by those who are on the street for the first time. Civil society organizations seem to be no longer appealing for the new protest groups. New and different ways of protesting have emerged. Neither in Turkey nor in the other countries a consensus could be reached among the actors actively involved in the protests and the “old school” civil society organizations and political parties about how to ensure the sustainability of the protests.
According to the dominant belief, the main burden of the 2013 protests was carried by the unorganized groups of young people. Have these people tried to join the existing political organizations? How do they see these organizations? Are they proposing alternative ways of protesting? Are there channels that link the organized and unorganized groups? What are possible common experiences or lessons? What do all these questions tell us about the future? How accurate is it to speak about an unorganized new generation?
The facts that the majority of the protestors were women and the LGBTI movement activists were among the main bearers of the actions had an impact not only on the forms of the actions but also on the awareness, discussion and rejection of homophobic and sexist discourses including hate speech. Visibility of the woman and LGBTI activists is said to have a significant role in the weakening of the sexist and homophobic attitude in the society. Whether this process of solidarity and mutual understanding managed to continue or not can be understood by looking at how far the sensitivity toward gender problems has been reflected in the discourses as well as the organization and activity methods of the activists and the civil society organizations.
At this conference we want to find answers to these questions with the aim of strengthening the social movements, supporting their sustainability and acting together - in Turkey and other countries. We will discuss together with the participants to the protests as well as representatives of the “old” civil society and political organizations.
Heinrich Böll Stiftung e.V.
Turkey Representation
Programme
Saturday, 24 May 2014
09.00-09.20 Registration
09.20-09.30 Opening remarks, Ulrike Dufner, Heinrich Böll Stiftung
09.30-12.00 First Panel: The Perspective and Demands of the Activists in Turkey
İstanbul, Derya Karadağ, Architect
Antakya, Hatice Can, Lawyer
Kayseri, Hatem Göksu, Lawyer
Diyarbakır, M. Emin Aktar, Lawyer
Ankara, Mehmet Mutlu, METU University
Moderator: İsmail Saymaz, Radikal Newspaper
12.00-13.00 Lunch Break
13.00-15.30 Second Panel: The Perspective and Demands of International Activists
Italy, Annalena Di Giovanni, Cambridge University, PhD Researcher
Greece, Christos Giovanopoulos, People's Assembly of Syntagma Square and Solidarity for All, Communication/Mutlimedia Group
Spain, Pablo Gallego, Former Spokesperson Real Democracy Now!
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Mirela Gruenther-Decevic, Heinrich Böll Stiftung
Croatia, Tomislav Tomasevic, Heinrich Böll Stiftung
Moderator: Foti Benlisoy, Researcher-Author
15.30-16.00 Tea-Coffee Break
16.00-18.30 Third Panel: New Political Actors and Types of Action
Anti-capitalist Muslims, Özgür Kazım Kıvanç
Beşiktaş Football Fan, Özgür Ergün
Impressions from Yel Değirmeni, Cihan Çabuk
Sarajevo Citizen Plenum, Svjetlana Nedimovic
Moderator: Begüm Özden Fırat, Mimar Sinan University
19.00-20.00 Film Screening
20.00-22.00 Cocktails and Concert
Sunday, 25 May 2014
10.00-12.00 Fourth Panel: Protests, Social Movements and Civil Society Organizations
Protests and Civil Society in Balkan Countries, Vedran Horvat, Heinrich Böll Stiftung
Lessons from the Viewpoint of Civil Society Organizations in Turkey, Hilal Atıcı, Greenpeace
Turkey Protest and Civil Society from an LGBTI Perspective, Erdal Demirdağ, SPOD
Turkey Protest and Civil Society from Women’s Perspective, Selime Büyükgöze, Istanbul Feminist Collective
Turkey Protests, A Struggle for Urban and Environment Protection, Hatice Kurşuncu, Urban Planner
Moderator: Seda Alp, Association for Monitoring Equal Rights
12.00-13.00 Lunch Break
13.00-15.00 Fifth Panel: Social Movements and Political Parties
Republican People’s Party, Melda Onur
The Greens and Left for the Future Party, Sevil Turan
Peoples’ Democratic Party, Hasip Kaplan
Human Rights Defender, Ayhan Bilgen
Moderator: Mehveş Evin, Milliyet Newspaper
15.00-15.15 Tea-Coffee Break
15.15-18.15 Closing Forum: International New Social Movements and Civil Society
- How did the experiences of Gezi and similar events in and outside of your country changed your civil activism?
- What is next, what should we expect, what goals and strategies we might think of?
- How can we reflect the last year's experience to politics and with which means?
Moderators:
Nazik Işık, Equal Life Association
Nejat Taştan, Association for Monitoring Equal Rights