Turkish Posters & Protests

Though Turkey has ancient history poking out from underneath every rock, its modern history is often neglected. Glamorous archaeological discoveries and well preserved edifices tend to take the spotlight over the country's remarkable recent history, leaving important lessons from recent history buried under the weight of ancient history.  

After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and his followers relentlessly pursued rapid modernization for Turkey; abolishing centuries old religious orders and headgear, creating a new penal and civil code, adopting a new alphabet, giving full political rights and suffrage to women and entrenching a separation between religion and state.  

Such sweeping change was initially successful, but rumbling aftershocks decades later threatened to undermine what Ataturk and the modern Turks had worked so hard for.  A combination of economic hardship and rising unpopularity led to military coups in 1960 and 1971 which imposed new governments and conservative values.  Amidst the continuing coups, civil strife began between ultra-nationalists and left-wing communist groups.  Some sources claim that 5000 people were killed during the 1970's, with up to ten assassinations a day.  A decade of martial law, extra-judicial killings and street fighting culminated in a third military coup in 1980, which eventually calmed the country's political divide (allowing Turkey to turn its attention to the new threat of an armed Kurdish political party - but that's another story).  

A while back, we went to an exhibit at a museum on the European side of the city which showcased some of the socialist art and political posters from the 1970's and 80's in Turkey.  Tons of cool shots of solidarity, clamoring for justice and peace.  There's nothing like a little political strife to produce some beautiful art!

As labour day approaches in Turkey (May 1), fresh political posters begin to line the streets of my neighborhod.  May 1st, 1977 was a dreadful day in Turkish history: a massive protest organized by worker's unions and socialist parties in popular Taksim Square, Istanbul, turned violent with somewhere between 34-42 dead.  Though the violence is blamed upon in-fighting between the socialist groups, many claim that the tragedy was instigated by shadow forces of the government (or even the CIA!) in order to justify a severe crackdown.  Ever since, it's been a pivotal day for socialists and liberals in Turkey to protest and stand in solidarity.      

Massive protests are common in Turkey, and politics here in Anatolia often are quite intricate; conservatives, communists, liberals and socialists all clamoring for change under a - currently - Islam inspired social conservative party.  It's not surprising, considering that Turkey has hosted emperors and civilizations for thousands of years.  Turks may be fierce nationalists; that doesn't mean they don't want to change their country for the better!