Violence ‘stoked’ Gezi anger

ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News

An anti-government protester works on a laptop at Taksim Gezi park in Istanbul on June 13. The Turkish government urged today thousands of protesters to evacuate the park. AFP photo

A recent poll conducted by research company Konda on 4,411 participants in the Gezi Park protests revealed that 49 percent said they had come to Gezi Park because of police violence, compared with only 15 percent who cited the plans for Gezi itself.

The average age of protestors is 28, with 79 percent not affiliated with any political organization and 45 percent attending a protest for the first time.

Another interesting outcome showed that 69 percent heard about the protests through social media. According to Konda some 79 percent of the protesters are not members of any kind of political parties, clubs or social associations. Fifteen percent of the protestors learned the police violence from their friends. Only 7 percent found out about the situation from TV.

Almost half of protesters will vote for no party

Another striking result of the poll was that 47 percent of participants thought there was no political party in Turkey that they could vote for and 79 percent with no affiliation with any organization. When the participants were asked “What are you demanding?” 34 percent said “protection of freedoms,” while 18 percent said “prevention of rights violations,” and 9 percent said “confronting oppression” and another 9 percent said “urging the government to resign.”

The question “Why did you come to Gezi Park?” received replies of “Because the trees were to be cut down“ from 15 percent and “to protest police violence” from 49 percent. When they were asked if they were currently a member of any organization/party/association, 79 percent said they had no affiliation with any association and 94 percent stated they were participating in the protests individually. The poll also showed 37 percent had never voted, 18 percent wouldn’t vote, 29 percent were undecided, and 47 percent thought there was no party to vote for.

A total of 52 percent of protestors are currently working while 37 percent of them said they were students, and 56 percent hold university degree/masters degree.