Hurriyet Daily News published an article by Murat Yetkin headlined 'Taksim heralds a better Turkey' devoted to the protest campaign continuing in the country.
"Following a meeting with the representatives of the three-week-long demonstrations, which at one point spread to more than 78 of 81 city centers in Turkey, for more than four hours in Ankara, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan decided to freeze a controversial project until the result of a court case. The project was to demolish Gezi (promenade) Park, the last remaining green spot in the touristic Taksim area to build a replica of an Ottoman-era Artillery Barracks there, which will contain a shopping mall. When the police reacted harshly, with pepper gas and water cannons against – literally – some 50 protestors in the area, and when Erdoğan rejected their demands categorically by denouncing them a handful of marauders, everything got out of control, as President Abdullah Gül had to admit later on," the article reads.
"Erdoğan’s first step back, without any moderation in his tone was to shelve the shopping mall part, saying that perhaps there would be a “city museum.” But as police used more tear gas, water cannons and plastic bullets and as a rain of statements started to come from the U.S. and the EU calling Erdoğan to a dialogue, he had to agree. The first contact did not produce much of a result, since many of them were handpicked by himself, but the protestors still poured into Taksim in Istanbul, Kuğulu (Swan) Park in Ankara and elsewhere, despite the police stance. On June 13, Erdoğan agreed to talk to a group of representatives," Murat Yetkin writes.
"Now he agreed that the demolition of Gezi Park would wait until the appeal court decides whether a previous court decision barring any building instead is valid. This is a clear win for the demonstrations, since for the first time in Erdoğan’s 11-year Justice and Development Party (AK Parti) rule, his almighty image is scratched," he believes.
According to Yetkin, Taksim could be taken as the beginning of a better Turkey, a more pluralistic Turkey with more social self confidence that manages to solve its crises within a democratic system, how harsh it may get from time to time. "The way for a more mature democracy in Turkey is being paved with the pepper gas fuses fired upon the Taksim demonstrators across the country," he writes.
