Occupy Taksim


  • Photographer
    Barbaros Kayan
  • Prize
    Honorable Mention
  • Company/Studios
    Freelance
  • Date of Photograph
    31.05.2013 - 11.06.2013
  • Technical Info
    Canon Eos 5d Mark III

The Government in the last days of May increased the pressure just to demolish the trees in order to construct a shopping center in Gezi Park Located in the center of Taksim. In the early days, the activists just setup tents in the park in order to stop this legally unlawful action. At dawn on May 30, police forces entered the park with pepper gases and heavy industry machines setting the tents on fire. This behavior encouraged hundreds of thousands of humanitarian actions to rebel spreading allover Turkey on May 31 together with increasing police violence.

Story

The Government in the last days of May increased the pressure just to demolish the trees in order to construct a shopping center in Gezi Park Located in the center of Taksim. In the early days, the activists just setup tents in the park in order to stop this legally unlawful action. At dawn on May 30, police forces entered the park with pepper gases and heavy industry machines setting the tents on fire. This behavior encouraged hundreds of thousands of humanitarian actions to rebel spreading allover Turkey on May 31 together with increasing police violence. I as a photographer who was at the same time living in Istanbul documented the skirmish in Istanbul which started on 31May and actively expired on June 11.

I tried to be calm while taking pictures. There have been moments when I was between the police and the front protestors and there was no one else other than me taking pictures. I could feel I was in a dangerous zone. But sometimes this gives you such an energy that your feet start moving automatically and your body language speak for you . On June 11, I was possessed by these kinds of feelings and I didn’t really care about the danger. There is a musical term called “groove”. This is exactly the same kind of feeling I’m talking about. This happens to me sometimes, but it was the first time it happened during a clash…

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