Threatening security: Conflicting conceptualizations of security during the Gezi Park protests

Abstract

18 days of resistance against the destruction of Gezi Park at the heart of Istanbul opened up a new phase for the public political debate in Turkey. For a while, neither the government and its supporters nor separate groups from the opposition could discuss a public issue without referencing to the Gezi Park Protests and its after effect to the politics in Turkey. The Resistance drew attention of researchers from a wide range of disciplines. Still, almost none of studies produced as a result of this attention focused on the conception of security which was formed during occupation of Gezi Park and its surrounding area. In this thesis, however, the discussion is on the conceptualization of the security in and around the Park – the occupied area. After a brief discussion on the security studies and literature with respect to the concept, the argument of the thesis is constituted on how different the conceptions of security in and around the Park and outside of that were. While trying to understand the conception of security outside of the park by focusing on the police force and its practices, which is one of the security force supposed to provide security, this thesis is an attempt to find out which conditions and practices occurred for the feeling of security in the Park. For this reason, in this thesis content analysis of the accounts of the participants to the Resistance, police officers’ and victims’ accounts, and historical analysis of the police force itself will be resorted to understand how the security as a discourse and practice is formed and implemented.