protests in turkiye

  if you live in europe you most likely saw what’s going on with turkiye and protests. probably even see it in your streets cause your governor and the police lets them to. although in turkiye, the heart of revolution itself has been ridiculously violent. currently istanbul’s saraçhane and antalya seems to be the worst. my turkish friends there got pepper sprayed, some even got beaten by police. so what’s the core of this if you wonder ?

istanbul’s mayor ekrem imamoglu recently got arrested for ‘’terrorism’’. and there was an election from his party ; CHP (also Ataturk’s party, which makes it the first ever democratic step of turkiye) . if they got a million votes they had the right to choose imamoglu as the next candidate for the president of the republic. they got over 15 million votes. and now people are fed up with government's islamic, ractionary and conservative regime. so its not just about imamoglu, its everything that ever happened that led to this. there’s no other deterrent prospect than being against everything your government stands for. it’s a revolution. people also claim this as a step to 2nd gezi. gezi was a park in istanbul. it's a huge space containing various trees. when president erdogan stated they were going to build a massive, historical quarter , people had awaken, to a 90 days of protest. gezi park is safe and sound now. but what about the rest of the country ? were trying make it that way too. 2013 is recycling into 25, i was bit too young to attend the protests back then, couldn’t even comprehend it very well cause my family doesnt  even watch tv. i vaguely remember from my grandmas newspapers. 

so, if only an environmentalist act like gezi left a notorious impact on the country, this movement, surrounding the country will make change. if you’re not in turkiye right now, i’ll guide you to brief ways of protests and boycotts. 

firstly; if youre in europe, there are already several protests happening, currently from what i know, we are protesting in Netherlands, UK, Portugal, Germany, France, Belgium. according to my friends it’s safe to walk around and throw out slogans there. but if you are in turkiye you MUST have precautions. such as ; pepper spray, a helmet (bicycle, motorcycle etc.) comfortable sneakers in case you need to run, ALWAYS tie your hair you may also cut your hair (i will be doing it tonight) 

boycott any turkish brand you know and use.  (excluding eti, lipton, turkish tuborg etc... ) 

dont go to turkish coffee shops like espresso lab, kahve dünyası etc. if youre in turkey dont go to chain stores like starbucks as well. prefer your local shops and pay in cash. this makes it so that you wont pay kdv ( the taxation) for your products etc.  also if youre using any turkish streaming services, online shops, your sim card, deactivate them.

i curently don’t use social media but if youre on mainstream ones like instagram please post whatever you  see ! i myself re-opened twitter for this sake. 

for more detailed boycott materials and overall here’s some twitter links that may interest you ;

lists of boycott brands ;

https://x.com/helenafromjptr/status/1904191476428402718

lists of alternative brands ; https://x.com/parlakcisim/status/1904213540610687451

also, this is very niche but if youre in turkey, antalya’s alanya province, we are meeting every evening at Ataturk’s memorial and we walk from there to damlataş, come and find me !! i always wear suits and do blue makeup. 

phew… my first ever blog here is quite dark and not so charming but once things settle down here id love going back to writing / journaling.

much luv from artemis, stay safe !