Gezi Park one month on: what lies ahead?

Commentary (European Policy Centre) 27 June 2013

by Amanda Paul & Demir Murat Seyrek *

For almost a month, Turkey has been witnessing serious challenges to its social and political stability, with protestors defying the authority of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). Sparked by a harsh response to a quiet environmental demonstration over Taksim’s Gezi Park, the protests caught the world by surprise, as did the government’s reaction to them. The defiant attitude of Erdoğan, along with the heavy-handed approach of the police, cast a dark shadow over Turkey’s ruling elites and attracted criticism from the international community, including the EU.

* Amanda Paul is a policy analyst at the European Policy Centre in Brussels. Demir Murat Seyrek is an independent analyst on European affairs.

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