AKP's project of destroying Taksim Square and Gezi Park coincided with the 10th anniversary of the government in power. With the authorization of the AKP government the municipality workers employed by the Istanbul Municipality started the destruction in the area with the pretext of restoration in the Park and widening of the road to Taksim Square beginning in November 2012. That meant that Taksim Gezi Park was not public any more and became a site of construction.
The project of building a shopping mall in Taksim Gezi Park has crystallized the ambitions of the AKP. The aim of the government was to build shopping malls and luxurious residences for the rich at the expense of the destruction of the last green places, as well as gathering places of Istanbul residents in case of an earthquake. The government planned this project under the banner of re-building the Artillery Barracks. At the same time, Taksim Square and Gezi Park were planned to be closed to the public and to public demonstrations by the working class generally taking place in this area. The other basic goal of the AKP government is to close the area to May Day celebrations and the protest meetings organized by the leftist forces against the government. The government aimed to silence the left opposition through closing this area to protests.
This project is, at the same time, the result of the maximization of the profit via implementing the neoliberal policies by the AKP rulers. The AKP nostalgia for the Ottoman Empire and the militarism in the past is another cause of the re-building of the Artillery barracks in Taksim Gezi Park. And also, the ban on the mass demonstrations in Taksim Square is proof of the AKP government's historical hostility to the working class of Turkey. This is what the AKP is.
Considering the destruction of Taksim Gezi Park, the AKP government is aiming to eliminate the “Agora” of Istanbul city. The AKP government tries to silence the voice of working class and the all peoples of the Turkey. The AKP also bans gatherings of the people together to discuss the problems they live with in order to unite in their struggle to make their voice heard all over the city of Istanbul. So, the AKP has also tried to ban these activities and declare its hostility to every practice of democracy. The AKP declares that it oppose the “Kratos” of the “Demos.” So, the AKP is on the side of the authoritative rule of a handful of the rich, the oligarchy of the rich and the plutocracy.
The Taksim destruction project by the AKP government is also an attack on the working class, on the history of the working class, on democracy, on achievements in the area of secularism, on democracy, and on the independence of Turkey. This capitalist destruction project has the characteristics of militarism and Ottomanophilism, and is hostile to the peoples of Turkey.
So, the members and supporters of the TKP 1920 have been on the streets protesting the destruction policies by the AKP government.
For the Turkish text, click.