By M. Bilal Kenasari
The death of 15-year-old Berkin Elvan this week, who was injured during last year's Gezi Park protests has sparked widespread protests across the country.
Berkin Elvan was critically injured after being hit on the head by a police tear gas canister on 16th June, 2013. Having spent 269 days in a coma he passed away on Tuesday this week.
“Elvan passed away in Okmeydani Training and Research Hospital after staying in coma for 269 days,” the family’s attorney, Evrim Deniz Karatana, told Anadolu Agency.
The funeral for Elvan, held on Wednesday, attracted thousands of mourners and Istanbul's city government was required to close some of the roads around Sisli district in Istanbul to allow the funeral procession to proceed to Ferikoy Cemetery.
Turkish deputy prime ministers Bulent Arinc, Besir Atalay and Emrullah Isler sent their condolences on Wednesday to Elvan’s family.
“Please be aware that we all in Turkey are mourning today”, Turkish deputy Prime Minister Arinc said in a press conference.
Deputy PM Besir Atalay said in his condolences to the family that “Every death is a source of sorrow, even more so when it comes to young people.”
Widespread protests followed the funeral of Berkin Elvan and analysts have said the death of the boy and the protests have been used as "an excuse to attack the current government".
Deputy Prime Minister Emrullah Isler said he feels deep regret for the provocation on the streets adding that the videotapes and blackmails did not work, and now the street protests are "efforts to change the results of March 30 elections."
The Gezi protests sparked further protests against the Justice and Development (AK) Party government following the wiretapping of important official’s phone conversations.
Riot police intervened in the demonstrations taking place in Istanbul and the capital, Ankara on the day of the funeral that left two dead. Can Karamanoglu a 22-year-old in Okmeydani, Istanbul, who was shot dead and a police officer in Tunceli whose death has each side blaming the other.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government has called the protests that began last year an attempt to topple Turkey’s elected government.
“The tradition of this country to use funerals in politics is a reason for pain” Ardan Zenturk from the Star Daily wrote in his column.
Columnists Abdulkadir Selvi from pro-government newspaper, Yenisafak, said that the protesters on the streets rely on impressionable youngsters.
On the other hand, journalist Mehmet Sanri, Istanbul's representative on the Arbil-based television channel, Kurdistan TV that "Elvan’s death by a police officer is not acceptable."
“However, Turkish society isn’t this sensitive over any killings as this is not only a sadness over death but also a form of anger against the government, which has been going on since Gezi Park incidents,” he added.
Sanri also called the protests “politics over body” and said no one has the right to question the sorrow of the family, or those who call on the government to find the perpetrators of this death.
“But we can’t ignore that we have lots of such experiences and Berkin is not the first child to die as a result of the actions of the security forces. We lost many people recently in the Kurdish region and their deaths didn't make even make the third page of the newspapers. Therefore I don’t find it enough to say that the reason behind the thousands of people being on the streets is to obtain justice for the Elvan," Sanri continued.
“Berkin as a child has been turned into a symbol that people use to show their anger to the government,” he concluded.
Prime Minister Erdogan’s speeches often target the self-exiled U.S.-based scholar, Fethullah Gulen, because Gulen is being accused of being behind the unrest and wiretapping in Turkey to topple the elected government.
Zaman daily, backed by the Fethullah Gulen movement, headlined the Elvan incident on mid November 2013, just before Gulen movement's clash with Erdogan's authority started, as “protesters used Berkin Elvan as an excuse to turn Okmeydani into a scene.” However, the same newspaper, headlined the Elvan incident on 11 March 2014 as “police interrupted to Berkin Elvan protests.”
The Fethullah Gulen movement is accused by the Turkish government of conducting a 'parallel state' and for being responsible for wiretapping the prime minister and other prominent people to undermine the government. The government says it is a covert coup attempt by some circles, which the AK Party says could not defeat them in the ballot box.
Also, Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan said the protests since Gezi were a “foreign-backed” attempt.
The Gezi park protests started in May 2013, as a reaction to a construction project in the Taksim district of Istanbul, and then spread to several other cities, leaving seven dead, including a policeman.
englishnews@aa.com.tr
