Erdem Gündüz

Der Spiegel reported in 2013 that a couple of years earlier Gündüz had "protested the headscarf ban at Turkish universities." The newspaper quoted him as saying that "We tied headscarves on and sat in the lecture halls."[1]

Peaceful protests began to take place in Istanbul on 28 May 2013 over government plans to eliminate Gezi Park, one of the city's few green areas, and to begin development on the site. Peaceful demonstrators were attacked by police with tear gas and batons, leading to national protests by people who were more concerned about the government's authoritarian response than about Gezi Park. On 17 June, the government prohibited demonstrations in Istanbul.[5] It was two days after police had "swept the square clear of protesters with teargas and water cannon."[6] The Guardian noted that after being "driven from the square and the park", protesters "talked about the need to find new ways of getting their message across."[7]

At around 6 p.m. on 17 June, Gündüz drove to Taksim Square, near Gezi Park, which had been sealed off owing to the widespread anti-government protests. He walked to the center of the square and stood there silently in protest against the crackdown on demonstrations in Gezi Park. He was wearing "a white shirt and dark pants, with his backpack in front of him." He also had several bottles of water at his feet. He was facing the Atatürk Cultural Center, which is decked in Turkish flags and at the top of which hangs a large portrait of the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who established Turkey as a secular state.[1][5][6][8][9]

Gündüz planned to stand silently in the square for a long period – several days, according to some sources; a full month, according to others.[6][10] The Huffington Post reported that his "plan was to stay standing still there for a month, breaking every 24 hours for three hours' rest, while a friend took his place."[5]

At first his act of nonviolent resistance, which he had not announced in advance and which was unaccompanied by any sign or banner explaining his action, went unnoticed. After he began to draw notice, people "began taking pictures and spreading the word about it on Twitter." Some sources indicate that bystanders began to notice Gündüz's protest after about 15 minutes; others suggest, in the words of the New York Daily News, that "Gündüz stood for several hours unnoticed before his presence on the flashpoint square went viral on the social network Twitter."[11][9] According to NPR, many of the people on the square "didn't take him very seriously" at first, "with some even mockingly posing for photos with him"; at one juncture, "police and others tried prodding a response out of him." Yet "he remained perfectly still and ignored them. The one occasion he did move, though, was to unbutton his pants in case they wanted to strip search him."[12]

"For this new protest to work," reported one source, "Gündüz's friends positioned themselves outside the square in a bid to prevent well-wishers trying to approach him. One of them, a young woman named Asma, explained, 'We want to protect him from any provocation...He has to be alone in the middle of the square, otherwise the police will use the pretext of a gathering to clear everyone away.'" Over time, "a human chain formed an immense circle around him. Some of the youths there began arguing over whether to join him or stay well clear, as Gündüz's friends wanted."[5]

In time, however, Gündüz was "joined by hundreds of others who in solidarity decided to join his protest by standing for hours on end."[9] According to one source, 300 people joined him over the course of eight hours, standing and staring at the Ataturk Cultural Center.[6] Eventually, at 2 a.m., "Turkish police intervened, clearing the square and arresting several demonstrators,"[9] claiming that they were blocking traffic.[1] Some sources indicate that there were ten arrests.[10] According to Reuters, however, "dozens of people who had joined Gündüz at the silent protest were arrested."[13] Some sources maintain that "Gündüz slipped away into the crowd,"[6] while Der Spiegel, quoting Gündüz himself, states that police officers detained him but "weren't quite sure what to do with him." The police, reportedly, wondered: "Was it a protest, or was he crazy? Should they really go after a young man who was simply standing there?" The police searched his backpack, finding nothing, and then "made it clear that he should get lost or expect the use of force." Gündüz told Der Spiegel that he then "took three steps back," and when "this didn't make an impression on them…I ended my campaign. I didn't want any further violence."[1][14]

Gündüz became known as "the standing man." The hashtags "standingman" and "duranadam" ("standing man" in Turkish) went viral on Twitter.[6]

As news of Gündüz's action spread, other opponents of the Turkish government began to engage in similar protests around the country. In the words of Zeynep Tufekci, a sociologist and social-media commentator, the "standing man" concept "spread throughout Istanbul and other cities in several hours."[13] A woman in Ankara chose to stand in a spot where a protester had been killed by police. In Ankara, "about 25 'standingman' protesters were detained."[8] Three men stood at a spot in Istanbul, north of Taksim Square, where a Turkish-Armenian journalist, Hrant Dink, had been shot to death in 2007. Also, a group of men and women stood facing a former hotel in the city of Sivas where 37 people, mostly members of the Alevi minority, died in a 1993 fire started during an Islamist protest against the presence at a meeting there of a translator of Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses.[9] In Hatay Province on the Syrian border, "a man stood with his hands in his pockets beside a makeshift shrine for Abdullah Comert, who was killed during clashes there between police and protesters."[9]

The Business Insider reported that the day after Gündüz’s protest, "more ‘standing man’ protesters were back in Taksim Square", noting also that "The idea even spread abroad to New York City, showing the global appeal of Turkish protests that began as simple opposition to the demolition of a park in Istanbul."[10]

After Gündüz's protest, Interior Minister Muammer Güler stated "that there would be no police swoop against similar" actions. "If this protest does not harm public order or influence life generally, we will not intervene in such protests," he said.[9]