Category: Expatriatism

I’m not going to pretend I hung out in Gezi Park all the time.  Actually, I had only seen it for the first time this past Monday when I learned at 7:30 a.m. that there were in fact two bus stations in Taksim (where I’ve lived since April 1st).

What I did think was, “what a beautiful park.  I never even knew that was there.”  Since it is so close to me, and I would need to walk through it to my new bus station, my spirits lifted a bit.  Walking through a park is a nice way to start your day.

So…when I heard (that same day) that there were plans to destroy the park to build a shopping mall, I (perhaps somewhat annoyingly, in hindsight, now that I realize the significance) thought of all of the other beautiful, green spaces in Istanbul (Dolmabahce, for instance, and all of the sea-side places…), but the fact that there are more isn’t the point: the point is that they are taking away this one

(what have they taken already, when will they stop, etc.?).

Now the sounds of more teargas containers hit the streets, and people, in tears, are in each others’ arms, and everyone is running

for the free space to be, not given back, running to go back, and to have it not taken away in the first place.