'Gezi' salutes mark opening of Turkey's new parliament

Two years after the massive Gezi Park protests shook Turkey?s political and social landscape, four deputies have sworn in to the new parliament by saluting the ground-breaking movement.

During the oath-taking ceremony in parliament on June 23, Republican People?s Party (CHP) deputies Ali Haydar Hakverdi, Gamze Akku? ?lgezdi and Hilmi Yaray?c? raised their left fists in the air on the rostrum in honor of Gezi.

Hakverdi, a 36-year-old lawyer, played an active role during the anti-government protests in the summer of 2013, during which he was repeatedly photographed confronting the police at the barricades in Ankara?s Tuzluçay?r neighhorbood (below). Tuzluçay?r is a hotspot of activism organized by the members of local left-wing and Alevi communities.

He was also involved in the legal cases regarding the deaths of several Gezi victims, including Berkin Elvan, Abdullah Cömert and Ethem Sar?sülük.

?For the past 15 years I have been an insurgent by day and a lawyer by night,? Hakverdi told daily Milliyet before he was elected. 

?I promise you that we will continue to fight,? he said in a YouTube recorded in his office at parliament moments after he was sworn in as a deputy.

Two HDP deputies in spotlight

During the oath-taking ceremony, two MPs from the Peoples? Democratic Party (HDP) were also in the spotlight in relation to Gezi. 

HDP deputy Beyza Üstün wore a red carnation and a black ribbon to commemorate the Gezi Park protests and the victims of the recent wave of femicides in Turkey.

S?rr? Süreyya Önder, who famously halted a bulldozer at Gezi Park in May 2013 (below), when he was also a deputy, made no reference to the protests when he took his oath again on June 23.