The atmosphere in Gezi-Park today: Amazing

June 4, 2013May 3, 2019 Anja Pross

The atmosphere is amazing in Gezi-Park: People are offering free food to each other, chatting, making music or collecting trash…

I stayed in the park today and talked to some of the people who started to “live” there, it was great!

This movement brought together people from different backgrounds who want the right to have a say in decisions which concern their public spaces, cities and their country. And they are there to claim their freedom.

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Chapulling (Turkish: çapuling) is a neologism originating in the 2013 protests in Turkey, coined from Prime Minister Erdoğan's use of the term çapulcu (roughly translated to "looters") to describe the protestors.

The protests started with the occupation of the Istanbul Gezi Park by a small group protesting against the demolition of a symbolic park in the center of the City, finally it became a mass demonstration with a general strike on June 17th 2013.

The word Çapuling quickly caught on, adopted by the demonstrators and online activists, and became a viral video.

Many took the concept further by integrating the unique nature of the demonstrations and defined it as "to act towards taking the democracy of a nation to the next step by reminding governments of their reason for existence in a peaceful and humorous manner."

The Çapuling section of InEnArt describes and reflects the visual culture, humor and irony of the peaceful protestors (the Çapulcu) as it developed in many forms in Turkey during 2013.

The authors of InEnArt will publish regular one phenomen of the Çapuling Culture: e.g. the Duran Adam (Standing Man), the penguin, gas festival, the woman in red...

Read also: Why Turks are good in protesting!