AbstractsPolitical Science

Abstract

For two weeks in June 2013, anti-government protesters occupied Gezi Park, a small park in central Istanbul. The protests started in response to the Turkish government's plan to demolish the park, and evolved into large-scale anti-government demonstrations. This paper offers a spatial analysis of the 2013 Gezi Park Protests in Istanbul by drawing on concepts such as (a) the social production of space; (b) scalar strategies in contentious politics; (c) place, symbolism, and place-based identities; and (d) policing and spatial practices of repression. Spatial perspectives shed light on the complexities of social movement mobilization and trajectories, policing strategies, and the social and political dynamics in episodes of contention.