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The Last Straw of Democratization? Understanding the Gezi Protests in Turkey through Participants’ Narratives

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The 2013 Gezi movement stands as a defining moment in Turkish history; originally catalyzed by environmentalist concerns, the movement rapidly evolved, drawing participation from diverse societal groups and culminating in approximately 5,000 related demonstrations all over the country. Despite the widespread academic interest in the Gezi protests, a noticeable void exists: the exploration of participants' emotional narratives before, during, and after the movement. By employing narrative analysis and the sociology of emotions in social movements, the research investigates the emotional dimensions of the Gezi protests and their impact on Turkish society. Data for this research was sourced from in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 52 Gezi protest participants, in the primary protest cities Ankara and Istanbul. Interviewees were selected from a variety cross-section of Turkey's political and ethnic factions. Thematic narrative analysis was employed to discern common elements between participants' experiences. Firstly, a unique feature of this research is its systematically retrospective approach, interviewing participants nearly a decade post-event, thus investigating current emotions, experiences, and perceptions regarding the Gezi uprising and associated political dynamics aftermath. secondly, the study contributes to social movement literature by offering a unique, retrospective viewpoint that sheds light on the emotional dynamics and narratives shaping the course of the Gezi movement. Lastly, this study aims to better understand the emotions and narratives of those involved in the Gezi movement, aiming to provide a holistic understanding of the driving forces of the movement, the ambiance during the protests, and the post-protest social dynamics leading up to 2020 retrospectively. Such an investigation is pivotal, especially when considering nations with potentially fragile democratic frameworks

The project explored the 2013 Gezi protests in Turkey through the emotions and narratives of participants. While the Gezi movement began as an environmentalist resistance, it quickly turned into one of the most significant civic mobilizations in recent Turkish history. The study was based on 52 semi-structured interviews with participants from diverse political and social backgrounds in Istanbul and Ankara, focusing on how emotions shaped participation before, during, and after the protests.
In the pre-protest period, anger, worry, fear and frustration those are concerned for rights and freedoms motivated people to take part, with anger in particular creating a sense of commonality across distant groups. During the protests, this commonality turned into an intense collective experience marked by solidarity, joy, and empowerment. In the aftermath, however, emotions shifted with the consolidation of authoritarian rule: many withdrew into disappointment, fear, and apathy, while a smaller group sustained engagement through micro-level, prefigurative practices.
The “ladder of emotion” metaphor was used to trace how feelings shifted across the three phases of the periods. In the pre-protest period, anger and concern formed the first rungs, mobilizing people to act. During the protests, these emotions rose into hope, joy, solidarity, and empowerment as participants forged empathetic bonds across distant groups. After the protests, however, with the consolidation of authoritarian rule, emotions turned downward into fear, disappointment, and apathy for many, while a smaller group continued engagement through micro-level, prefigurative practices.
By approaching Gezi through participants’ narratives, the project demonstrates how emotions are central not only in mobilizing people but also in shaping their longer-term political orientations, offering new insights into the dynamics of social movements under authoritarian conditions.

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