Ms Safak Pavey:

To sum up because it is a large issue, I strongly believe that the Gezi Park protests were not political demonstrations. They were not for democracy and did not relate to an ethnic struggle. They were about the same old and prolonged social divide between the modern and the traditional coming to the surface. Those peaceful protesters who were unfortunately exposed to the extreme use of force by the police and brutal attacks were representing the further clipping away of social freedoms and rights. It was a social explosion that was inter-generational and inter-class. It was just one platform for the youngsters who were pushed away from the cliff of the city to make them invisible in a city that takes its radiance from their humour, joy and modern education. They were asked to be invisible and they resisted and braved an onslaught to save a few trees in a small park that is perhaps one of the few small spaces in my city in which to breathe.

What did they want? Like everybody else including us, they wanted a modern education, to be proud of their jobs, to perhaps kiss freely in public if they wanted to and to walk and have good public transportation in their city. They just wanted social freedoms and to live as happily as possible. This is the social segment at which we are looking. It is very sad that in the following witch hunt, which is ongoing, many people lost their public jobs and many of the youngsters who had been profiled by the police might never have the opportunity of public work.

This is why the EU roadmap is very important. Those youngsters have shown us the newest face of Turkey and we need to look at it very carefully. They have shown the desire to live by universal rights, values and freedoms. That is significant and is the reason we are pushing for chapters 23 and 24 to be opened concretely in the EU talks. That is why the outcome is very important for us and those peaceful protesters. The environment chapter is also on the table between the two parties so perhaps that is where we need more progress in respect of a participatory democratic role for local authorities. That will also be an important question.