May Day

Istanbul?s former governor Hüseyin Avni Mutlu was fined 10,000 Turkish Liras for accusing a then-17-year-old Dilan Alp of being a member of ?marginal groups? during the May Day protests of 2013, during which she was hit in the head by a tear gas canister shot by the police.

Late in the summer of 1977, General Kenan Evren was set to retire from the command of Turkey?s Aegean Army due to the age limit. But a series of unfortunate events changed both his fate and that of the nation in May and June that year.

Istanbul police stopped a group of lawyers protesting the May Day detentions in Istanbul?s Ça?layan courthouse, forcing them outside using riot shields on May 4.

For the tourists who chose to spend May Day at the Ivo Wildlife Park in Harghita County, this was an occasion for a fresh experience and close interaction with the animals seen roaming in their natural habitat, and also for admiring the pristine landscapes.

Photos by Gina STEFAN / AGERPRES

Local shopkeepers who beat a group of May Day activists in Istanbul have said that the police thanked them for their vigilant action.

"We are Muslims and they are terrorists," one shopkeeper told daily Hürriyet on May 2.

Turkish authorities have launched a probe into a policeman who was filmed while punching a journalist during a May Day demonstration.

Is it correct or not that Istanbul's Taksim Square was closed to May Day demonstrations? Generally there are two answers.

One answer is that whatever the government does is correct. When the government lifts the ban on Taksim, they should be applauded for the sake of freedoms. When they ban it, they should again be applauded for the sake of public order.

Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis got a rock star’s welcome at the May Day rally he attended at Klafthmonos Street. For a full 15 minutes the crowds cheered upon his arrival. Groups of women yelled out “Yanis, We love you!” Journalists and cameras surrounded him… The controversial erratic Marxist minister made no official comment and just lapped up the people’s love.

Turkey marked May Day in places across the country with celebrations, apart from its largest city Istanbul, where riot police did not hesitate to use tear gas and water cannons to halt groups that attempted to rally in the streets to reach the symbolic Taksim Square. 

Expressing opposition to massive marches, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu encouraged individuals to mark May Day in Istanbul with carnations. However, police in the city detained a single woman who brought a book to Taksim Square: Karl Marx's "Das Kapital."