Local projects must be resolved one by one upon thorough discussions at the local level.

Finally, yesterday there was a relevant and normal development. Hüseyin Çelik, deputy head of the AKP, following his meeting with the representatives of the Gezi Park protestors, stressed that the project “perhaps” might be voted on in a local referendum. I believe that the Gezi Park project should be put to a referendum. Turkey should have democratic tools of freedom of expression where local issues can be elaborated at the local level. If some people think that Taksim should be turned into a construction heaven and that trees idly occupy the park, they must have the right to say so. Yet I don’t believe there are people with this view. I will tell you why.

The Gezi Park protests have been instructive for all of us. Let us put something straight: for the first time in Turkey a strong civil reaction has been given to the official zoning regulations that have been in place for Gezi Park for some time now. The emphasis of this sentence is on civil and official. The people did not like what the state had done on their behalf and have demonstrated the discontent. It’s as simple as that. Why are there a variety of rumors about what is next? Being the first uprising of city inhabitants for their cities, the protests have confused people and they have started to view them with a jaundiced eye. No need for disguise. There is a lot to investigate about what has happened so far. Why? Mainly because a local incident becoming a national issue has to do directly with ineptitude. What we have is the mismanagement of a local incident.

But let me tell you what the incident will not bring about. First, it will not bring about the resignation of the government. For that, you need a quantum leap. It’s pure nonsense. Second is the mirror reflection of the first one: at the bottom of the incidents is no international conspiracy or anything. This is just another sign of arrogance. One that we are accustomed to here: “Everyone is coming at me, they are all envious of me.” Third, the Gezi Park incident will not deliver any result about politics. The incident ihas been detached from politics and political parties from the very first day. But there are lessons politicians and the Turkish politics have to learn from the Gezi Park incident. That is why I liked Hüseyin Çelik’s statement, “we might hold a referendum.” I believe that the “we might hold a referendum” option must be materialized and become “we definitely will hold a local referendum.”

There are lessons for everyone in the Gezi Park incident. I told above about the chief lesson political parties must learn. This is not exclusively about the ruling party, mind you. Urban management has to involve the people who live there. Local projects must be resolved one by one upon through discussions at the local level. The claims that the projects were proposed and laid before voters in advance in the election manifesto seems like the tiny little articles at the bottom of the pages-long housing loan specifications. Thinking about your dream house, you sign the contract without reading and agreeing to those articles.

Second, the citizens who have organized spontaneously around Gezi Park from now on should channel their energy towards their elected city council members. They must call politicians for concrete actions of public disclosure and transparency. I am talking about questions like “Does any council member have a direct or indirect affiliation with construction companies?” When you hear their answers you will be surprised and start to understand why city councils are obsessed with zoning regulations.

Just mark my words: the land profit lobby is equally distributed across all political parties.

This commentary was published in Radikal daily on 14.06.2013