By Gozde Nur Donat and Fatma Bulbul
ANKARA
Istanbul’s Taksim Square was once again a scene for conflict between police and demonstrators on 1 May International Workers’ Day, making it hard to enjoy a day of national celebration in Istanbul.
Thousands of people celebrated 1 May last week in provinces such as Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Adana, Samsun, Kayseri and Diyarbakir.
More than 100 people were injured in Taksim amid demonstrations which had been banned by the government over intelligence warnings that security forces could be provoked by “illegal terrorist groups”.
The intense environment was also reflected in the Turkish capital of Ankara, with Kizilay Square setting the scene for another flashpoint between police and protesters.
A total of 142 people were arrested during the May Day demonstrations, according to the Istanbul Governorate.
Article 34 of the Turkish Constitution affirms the freedom of assembly “without prior permission”, but also says it can be “restricted by law on grounds of national security and public order”.
'Unpleasant scenes'
There were also some peaceful celebrations involving thousands of people in Ankara’s Tandogan area.
The President of the Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions, Ergun Atalay, told Anadolu Agency the organization's supporters had been able to voice their demands for laborers' conditions to be improved “without even a nose bleed".
“There were unpleasant scenes at several places in the country. That was not what we hoped for,” he said.
Also speaking to AA, Mahmut Arslan, President of Confederation of the Turkish Real Trade Union, questioned the representation of groups involved in the Taksim demonstrations, saying: “We have to abide by the laws in a rule-of-law country."
"If Article 34 is thought to be non-constitutional, then it can be put into the judicial process for reform. But if everyone accepts that article, it should be obeyed.”
He added: “Demonstrators in Taksim who clashed with the police did not represent the workers. They are certain ideological groups who want to destabilize Turkey."
Rioting and fighting
But what makes Taksim so indispensable for some groups?
After being abolished in 1981, 1 May was restarted as a national holiday in 2009.
Taksim, a historically significant place for leftist factions, was opened solely to members of the Confederation of Revolutionary Trade Unions of Turkey in 2010 - the first time since 1978.
The closure had come after unidentified gunmen fired on a peaceful crowd on 1 May, 1977, as 500,000 people were gathered in the square to celebrate Labor Day.
Thirty-six people died in the rioting and fighting that followed.
The organization's President, Kani Beko, said the reason asserted by the government on banning Taksim was not “persuasive”, and was seen as an attempt to escape facing up to the 1977 incidents and an effort at erasing the memory of them.
'Need for commemoration'
“Taksim is open to all other group’s demonstrations, except those of workers,” said Beko, noting that just days ago about 15,000 hazelnut growers from Giresun were allowed to gather in Taksim.
One of most frequent assertions by the union and other socialist trade unions in holding the demonstrations is that they need to commemorate the victims of 1977.
The unions say they have a responsibility to mark May Day in Taksim until the state finds the perpetrators of the incidents and brings them to justice.
Associate Professor Ferdan Ergut, from the Middle East Technical University History Department - who is also a senior member of the Greens and Left Party of the Future - said that the government's own liberal contributions, in originally accepting May Day as a national holiday and opening Taksim Square to celebrations, had been erased by its decisions to close it over the years.
“The space is political in itself. The politics cannot be done in isolation from the space. So it is so important for worker groups to claim rights on Taksim Square, which they struggled to regain for more than 30 years,” Ergut said.
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