Being There : the 2013 Anti - Government Protests in Istanbul , Turkey

By happenstance, we found ourselves in Istanbul, Turkey in early June 2013 only days after a mass anti-government protest developed in and around Gezi Park. In addition to informal discussions and interviews with academics and others, we visited the protest site and traveled throughout Istanbul to directly experience the atmosphere and events. We also conducted two studies of Turks’ participation in, and views of, the protests. This paper recounts the events in Istanbul that summer and reviews our own, and other, social science research on the protests and the protestors. We focus on who the protestors were and why they protested, as opposed to the less engaged actions of visiting the protests or following them in the media. Colin wayne leaCh Departiment of pSycholoGical ScienceS, univerSity of connecticut ayşe betül Çelik faculty of artS anD Social ScienceS, Sabanci univerSity RezaRta bilali Departiment of applieD pSycholoGy, new york univerSity atilla Cidam Departiment of pSycholoGical ScienceS, univerSity of connecticut andRew l. StewaRt Departiment of pSycholoGy, clark univerSity BEING THERE: THE 2013 ANTI-GOVERNMENT PROTESTS IN ISTANBUL, TURKEY Corresponding author: Colin Wayne Leach, Email: [email protected] The visit to Istanbul by those of us based in the U.S. was supported by Bahçeşehir University. We wish to thank our academic host (Jacquie Mattis), the chairman of the board (Enver Yücel), and all of the faculty and staff who helped us. We are very grateful for their hospitality and generosity. Of course, this work expresses our views, not theirs.