Yesterday, life came to a standstill in Istanbul, a city of 17 million people.
Because all roads were closed.
From Beşiktaş to Zincirlikuyu…
From the Çatladıkapı traffic lights to Sultanahmet Square…
From Üçler to the streets of Tavukhane, Nakilbent, and Aksakal Street…
From Tersane Street to the Karaköy Square Kemeraltı Street…
From Dolmabahçe Street to Ortaköy…
From Arnavutköy Kuruçeşme Street to Bebek…
From Baltalimanı to İstinye…
From Katar Street to Büyükdere Street…
From there back to Zincirlikuyu…
From Barbaros Boulevard to Beşiktaş…
From Ragıpgümüşpala Street to the Galata Bridge…
From Reşadiye Street to Ankara Street in Sirkeci…
From the coastal Kennedy Street to Kumkapı…
On the Anatolian side, in Üsküdar, from the Kısıklı Street Altunizade Bridge to the D-100 highway southern entrance…
To Kuşbakışı Street, from in front of Petrol-İş to the D-100 highway southern entrance…
From Mahir İz Street to Tophanelioğlu Street…
From the Kadıköy coast to the Fenerbahçe Şükrü Saraçoğlu Sports Complex…
All roads, including Fener Kalamış, Ahmet Mithat Efendi, Operatör Cemil Topuzlu, and Bağdat streets, as well as Çetin Emeç Boulevard, were closed to vehicle traffic…
Metrobus services were suspended.
The Bosphorus Bridge (I refuse to call it the July 15 Martyrs Bridge…) was put on vacation.
That wasn't enough; even tram and car ferry services were halted.
People were imprisoned in their homes, and cars that hit the road waited for hours for the roads to open…
But why?
Because there was both the final stage of the Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey and the 19th Istanbul Half Marathon…
We have become accustomed to this “road-blocking” banditry that we experience a few times a year under the guise of promoting Istanbul abroad; we don't raise our voices, we do as we are told…
But…
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The Istanbul Governorship, which “locks down” an entire massive city all at once due to small or large organizations…
The Ministry of Interior, to which it is affiliated…
And the Partisan President, to whom it is also affiliated, why don't they close a limited area to traffic for just one day a year…
Only from Şişli…
From Beşiktaş…
And from Şişhane to Taksim?
Why do they not allow the Labor and Solidarity Day, which has been an official holiday since 2008, but by its real name, May 1st Labor Day, to be celebrated in Taksim, which has a very important place in the history of the Turkish Working Class?
It is not considered objectionable for Bilal Erdoğan’s religious associations and foundations to hold a sharia rally in Karaköy, on the Galata Bridge, and in Eminönü under the guise of protesting Israel…
Yet, why is the celebration of May 1st in Taksim prevented every year by putting hundreds of thousands of police on high alert?
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Let me tell you the reason.
A show of force…
The government wants to tell the millions of people who unite in “labor,” “rights,” “joint action against exploitation,” and “resistance against fascism and dictatorship”: “Look, I am still stronger than you. You can celebrate your holiday only where and to the extent that I allow.”…
And which government is this?
The AKP government, which has now fallen to the position of the “second party”…
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Mr. Özgür Özel…
You will face your first serious test after the last local elections, from which you emerged victorious, on May 1st…
If you cannot break and discard this ban, which stems solely from the arrogance of a government that no longer has power, and if you do not come to Istanbul with all your deputies, mayors, and provincial and district organizations to put an end to this imposition, you will cause great disappointment…
Please be in Taksim on May 1st.
Get to the very front of the millions and shatter this completely arbitrary imposition of the government…
If you do this, hope will continue…
If you are afraid, if you chicken out, or if you don't see the need…
You will lose very badly!
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