In the last week of May 2013, a series of mass demonstrations began in Taksim Square, Istanbul, and quickly spread all over Turkey. The demonstrations were initiated by a group declaring their opposition to the removal of some trees as part of an urban modernization project in the city centre. A severe security intervention triggered massive reactions from residents of Istanbul and, later, other Turkish cities: shortly after this intervention, an estimated 2.5 million people joined the demonstrations nationwide. Sustained in its most active form for nearly a month, the demonstrations left behind several deaths, many injuries, and inestimable property damage. Known as the “Gezi events,” they had a tsunami effect on Turkish politics, reshaping the political networks, redesigning ideological positions, and disorganizing the political agenda. This article focuses on the politics of Gezi protests in relation to the Nationalist Action Party (Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi, MHP), one of three opposition parties in the Turkish Grand National Assembly. Founded more than 50 years ago, the MHP is known for its far-right nationalist views. Unlike the main opposition party, the Republican People's Party (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, CHP), the MHP did not exploit the Gezi protests against the ruling Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, AKP). The authors analyze the MHP's discourses and actions regarding the Gezi protests and conclude that, more than ever, the Kurdish question is the key battleground for the MHP, and that since the 1990s the MHP has successfully transformed nationalist reactions to the Kurdish question into political fuel.
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
1 September 2014
Research Note / Notes de recherché|
June 03 2015
The Wolf and the Fist: The Nationalist Action Party (MHP) and the Gezi Protests
Coşkun Taştan;
Coşkun Taştan
Department of Sociology, Ağrı İbrahim Çeçen University, Ağrı, Turkey
Search for other works by this author on:
Hatem Ete
Hatem Ete
Senior Advisor to the Prime Minister, Ankara, Turkey
Search for other works by this author on:
The Arab World Geographer (2014) 17 (3): 290–301.
Citation
Coşkun Taştan, Hatem Ete; The Wolf and the Fist: The Nationalist Action Party (MHP) and the Gezi Protests. The Arab World Geographer 1 September 2014; 17 (3): 290–301. doi: https://doi.org/10.5555/arwg.1480-6800.17.3.290
Download citation file:
Sign in
Don't already have an account? Register
Client Account
You could not be signed in. Please check your email address / username and password and try again.
Could not validate captcha. Please try again.
Sign in via your Institution
Sign in via your Institution
5
Views
Citing articles via
The Historical Roots of Oil Price Monopoly and Its Exploration in the Arabian Gulf
Ali Maajal Khalaf, Ali Najah Mohammed Hussein, Hamid Obaid Jasim, Abdulsattar Jaeger Abd Khalaf
State Building, Ideologies and Civil Society in Jordan and Egypt: A Comparative Analysis and Implications for Regional Security with Lessons Learned for the UAE
Kleanthis Kyriakidis, Josef Demergis, Marios P. Efthymiopoulos
The Relationship Between Large-Scale Relative Vorticity Fields and Rainfall in Syria During the Period, 1980-2020
Kinana Ghazi Haleme, Saadoun Zahir Al-Dulaimi, Abdul Salam Arif Abdul Razzaq, Kamal Abed Ala Alah Algayssi
Statistical Analysis of Perceptions of Jordanian Women's Access to Parliament from the Perspective of Female Members of Jordanian Political Parties
Raafat A. Tarawneh, Areej Ali Khalil Jaber