Poems of protest – poems from Gezi Park
When the bulldozers rolled on to Gezi Park in Istanbul a year ago, they sparked off a protest that spilled over to cover the whole country and is not over yet. Resistance to the building of a shopping centre led to a fight for more democracy and press freedom in Turkey and against corruption and arbitrary behaviour by the government that is still going on today. From the very beginning it is above all poets who have been giving the protesters a voice.
On 7 June 2014 writers, artists and actors who are themselves part of the protest movement will be guests of the 15th poesiefestival berlin. They include Onur Behramoğlu, Neslihan Yalman, Gökçenur Ç., Mehmet Altun, Efe Duyan and Kaan Koç Zeynep Altıok Akatlı, Onur Orhan, Barış Atay Mengüllü and Deniz Yücel.