This recording was made in Gezi Park in Istanbul on Saturday. ‘Capulcular Korosu’ means ‘The Choir of Marauders’, that being the word Prime Minister Erdoğan keeps calling the protesters.
The first song is ‘Özgürlük’, which means ‘Liberty’. It’s an adaptation/translation of a poem by Paul Eluard. You can find the original French text here and an English translation here. It’s a very well-known song in Turkey, translated and adapted from the French by Zülfü Livaneli.
The choir then sings (at 4 minutes 30 seconds in) ‘Do You Hear the People Sing’ from Les Miserables – a song the relevance of which requires no explanation – before tearing into ‘Özgürlük’ again.
Much of the commentary on events in recent days in Turkey has focused on comparisons with various Occupy movements in countries such as the United States. Some of the protestors are doing this themselves. I think it is an error. The moral and political importance of the protests in Turkey is much greater, given the nature of its government, the country’s history, dominant religion and strategic importance.
For every iPad carrying hipster protesting in Istanbul, Ankara or Izmir over the last week, there seem to have been four or five people from a variety of social classes and cultural groups on the streets of drab Anatolian cities and towns.
I wonder how long it will take certain sectors of the chattering classes in Britain and the US to class them as ‘Islamophobic’. (HG.)