Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Gezi Movement Under a Connective Action Framework: Enhancing New Forms of Citizenship via Social Media

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
In the Aftermath of Gezi

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Communication for Social Change ((PSCSC))

Abstract

This paper seeks to understand the role of social media in the enhancement of participatory practices and behaviors focusing on the case of Gezi protests in Turkey. We focus on the role that social media played in shaping the dynamics that the movement unveiled and which appear to challenge the long standing social and political norms and values of the political establishment in Turkey. In doing so, we look at the posts that appeared on facebook and twitter between June and September 2013. Doing a discourse analysis we categorize them into different streams: dissemination of news within the country and internationally, solidarity from within the country, international solidarity and support, calls for participation, opinionated and oppositional messages. We argue that the Gezi movement is a case of connective action where social media became a tool for bringing to the forefront a form of active citizenship that urges for greatest democracy and civil rights within the country.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abbas‚ T.‚ and I.H. Yiğit. 2015. Scenes from Gezi Park: Localisation, Nationalism and Globalisation in Turkey. City: Analysis of Urban Trends, Culture, Theory, Policy, Action 19 (1): 61–76.

    Google Scholar 

  • Acar‚ Y.G.‚ and Ö.M. Uluğ. 2016. Examining prejudice reduction through solidarity and togetherness experiences among Gezi Park Activists in Turkey. Journal of Social and Political Psychology 4 (1): 166–179.

    Google Scholar 

  • Amnesty International. 2013. Gezi Park Protests. Brutal Denial of the Right to Peaceful Assembly in Turkey. Index EUR: 44/022/2013.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anduiza, E., C. Cristancho, and J.M. Sabucedo. 2014. Mobilization through Online Social Networks: The Political Protest of the Indignados in Spain. Information, Communication and Society 17 (6): 750–764.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arat, Y. 2013. Violence, Resistance, and Gezi Park. International Journal of Middle East Studies 45 (04): 807–809.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arbatli, E. 2014. Turkey’s New Path: The Rise of Electoral Authoritarianism. Center for Policy and Research on Turkey III 12: 76–92. London: Research Turkey.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bakimer, O. 2014. Can the “Spirit of Gezi” Transform Progressive Politics in Turkey? In The Making of a Protest Movement in Turkey #occupygezi, ed. Umut Ozkirimli. London: Palgrave McMillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bakir, C. 2009. Wobbling but Still on Its Feet: The Turkish Economy in the Global Financial Crisis. South European Society and Politics 14 (1): 71–85.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Benhabib, S. 2014. The New Legitimation Crises of Arab States and Turkey. Philosophy and Social Criticism 40 (4–5): 349–358.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bennett, W., and A. Segerberg. 2011. Digital Media and the Personalization of Collective Action. Information, Communication and Society 1 (1): 1–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bennett, L.W., and A. Segerberg. 2012. The Logic of Connective Action. Digital Media and the Personalisation of Contentious Politics. Information, Communication and Society 15 (5): 739–768.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bimber, B., A.J. Flanagin, and C. Stohl. 2005. Reconceptualizing Collective Action in the Contemporary Media Environment. Communication Theory 15 (4): 365–388.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Capelos, T., and S. Chrona. 2012. Islamist and Nationalistic Attachments as Determinants of Political Preferences in Turkey. Perceptions: Journal of International Affairs, Special Issue on Political Psychology 18 (3): 51–82.

    Google Scholar 

  • Çarkoğlu, A., and C. Kentmen. 2011. Diagnosing Trends and Determinants in Public Support for Turkey’s EU Membership. South European Society and Politics 16 (3): 365–379.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Çelik, E. 2015. Negotiating Religion at Gezi. In Everywhere Taksim: Sowing the Seeds for a New Turkey at Gezi, ed. I. David, and K. Toktamis, 215–229. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Chrona, S., and T. Capelos. 2016. The Political Psychology of Participation in Turkey: Civic Engagement, Basic Values, Political Sophistication and the Young. Southeast European and Black Sea Studies. doi:10.1080/14683857.2016.1235002.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Damar, E. 2016. Radicalization of Politics and the Production of New Alternatives: Rethinking The Secular/Islamic Divide after the Gezi Park Protests in Turkey. Journal Of Contemporary European Studies 24 (2): 207–222.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diani, M., and D. Mcadam. 2003. Social Movements and Networks: Relational Approaches to Collective Action. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Esen, B., and S. Gumuscu. 2016. Rising Competitive Authoritarianism in Turkey. Third World Quarterly 37 (9): 1581–1606. doi:10.1080/01436597.2015.1135732.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ete‚ H.‚ and C. Taştan. 2014. The Gezi Park Protests a Political, Sociological, and Discursive Analysis. Istanbul: Seta.

    Google Scholar 

  • Farro, A.L., and D.G. Demirhisar. 2014. The Gezi Park Movement: A Turkish Experience of the Twenty-First-Century Collective Movements. International Review of Sociology: Revue Internationale De Sociologie 24 (1): 176–189.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garrett, K.R. 2006. Protest in an Information Society: A Review of Literature on Social Movements And New ICTs. Information, Communication and Society 9 (2): 202–224.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Göle, N. 2013. Gezi- Anatomy of a Public Square Movement. Insight Turkey 15 (3): 7–14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gül, M., J. Dee, and C.N. Cunuk. 2014. Istanbul’s Taksim Square and Gezi Park: The Place of Protest and the Ideology of Place. Journal of Architecture and Urbanism 38 (1): 63–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Günes-Ayata‚ A. 2003. From Euro-Scepticism to Turkey-Scepticism: Changing political attitudes on the European Union in Turkey. Journal of Southern Europe and the Balkans 5 (2): 205–222.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haciyakupoğlu, G., and W. Zhang. 2015. Social Media and Trust during the Gezi Protests in Turkey. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 20 (4): 450–466.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Herzog‚ M. 2015. In the hall of the mountain king: The politics of uncertainty and Turkey’s off-piste year of authoritarian transformation. Centre for Policy and Research on Turkey Research Turkey IV, no. 11: 6–18. London‚ Research Turkey.

    Google Scholar 

  • Iğsız, A. 2014. Brand Turkey and the Gezi Protests: Authoritarianism in Flux, Law and Neoliberalism’. In The Making of a Protest Movement in Turkey #occupygezi, ed. Umut Ozkirimli, 25–49. Basingstoke: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kalaycioğlu, E. 2011. The Turkish—EU Odyssey and Political Regime Change in Turkey. South European Society and Politics 16 (2): 265–278.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karakatsanis, L. 2016. Radicalised Citizens Vs. Radicalized Governments? Greece and Turkey in a Comparative Perspective from the December 2008 Uprising to the 2013 Gezi Park Protests. Journal Of Contemporary European Studies 24 (2): 255–279.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karasulu, A. 2014. If a Leaf Falls, They Blame The Tree: Scattered Notes on Gezi Resistances, Contention, and Space. International Review of Sociology: Revue Internationale De Sociologie 24 (1): 164–175.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaya, A. 2013. Europeanisation and Tolerance in Turkey: The Myth of Toleration. London: Palgrave.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Kaya, A., and R. Marchetti. 2014. Europeanization, Framing Competition and Civil Society in the EU and Turkey. IAI Istituto Affari Internazionali. Working Paper N. 6. Available at: http://www.Iai.It/Sites/Default/Files/GTE_WP_06.Pdf. accessed 15 July 2015.

  • KONDA. 2014. Gezi report. Public perception of the Gezi protests. http://konda.com.tr/en/raporlar/KONDA_Gezi_Report.pdf.

  • Kuymulu, M.B. 2013. Reclaiming the Right to the City: Reflections on the Urban Uprisings in Turkey. City: Analysis of Urban Trends, Culture, Theory, Policy, Action 17 (3): 274–278.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Latour, B. 2005. Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lefebvre, H. 1968. Le Droit À La Ville. Paris: Anthopos.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lim, M. 2013. Framing Bouazizi: ‘White Lies’, Hybrid Network and Collective/Connective Action in the 2010–11 Tunisian Uprisings. Journalism, Special Issue Article 14 (7): 921–941.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCarthy, J.D. 1996. Constraints and Opportunities in Adopting, Adapting, and Inventing. In Comparative Perspectives on Social Movements: Political Opportunities, Mobilizing Structures, and Cultural Framings, ed. Dough Mcadam, John D. Mccarthy, and Mayer N. Zald, 141–151. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Öniş, Z. 2015. Monopolising the Centre: The AKP and the Uncertain Path of Turkish Democracy, The International Spectator. Italian Journal of International Affairs 50 (2): 22–41. doi:10.1080/03932729.2015.1015335.

  • Odağ, Ö., Ö.M. Uluğ, and N. Solak. 2016. Everyday I’m Çapuling Identity and Collective Action through Social Network Sites in the Gezi Park Protests in Turkey. Journal of Media Psychology 28 (3): 148–159. doi:10.1027/1864-1105/a000202.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Özdemir, E. 2015. An Assessment of the Gezi Protests in Turkey in 2013: Political Agency as an Articulation Practice. Review of History and Political Science 3 (2): 51–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Özkaynak, B., A.C. İskender, P. Ertör-Akyazι, and I. Ertör. 2015. The Gezi Park Resistance from an Environmental Justice and Social Metabolism Perspective. Capitalism Nature Socialism 26 (1): 99–114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ozkirimli‚ U. 2014. Introduction Ozkirimli Umut, The Making of a Protest Movement in Turkey #occupygezi. London: Palgrave McMillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Polletta, F., and M.J. Jasper. 2001. Collective Identity and Social Movement. Annual Review of Sociology 27: 283–305.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Segerberg, A., and L.W. Bennett. 2011. Social Media and the Organization of Collective Action: Using Twitter to Explore the Ecologies of Two Climate Change Protests. The Communication Review 14 (3): 197–215.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tilly, C., and S. Tarrow. 2006. Contentious Politics. Boulder, CO: Paradigm.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tufekci, Z. 2014. Social Movements and Governments in the Digital Age: Evaluating a Complex Lansdcape. Journal of International Affairs 68 (1): 1–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tuğal, C.Z. 2013. Resistance Everywhere: The Gezi Revolt in Global Perspective. New Perspectives on Turkey 49 (1): 157–172.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tunç, A. 2015. Twitter vs. Penguens on TV: #Geziparkprotests, Social Media Use, and the Y Generation in Turkey. In The Easter Mediterranean in Transition, ed. Spyridon N. Litsas, and Aristotle Tziampris, 161–177. Farnham: Ashgate.

    Google Scholar 

  • Uluğ, M., and Y, Acar. 2015. We Are More Than Alliances between Groups. A Social Psychological Perspective on the Gezi Park Protesters and Negotiating Levels of Identity. In Everywhere Taksim: Sowing the Seeds for a New Turkey at Gezi., eds. I. David and K. Toktamis, 121–136. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Djik, J., and T. Poell. 2013. Understanding Social Media Logic. Media and Communication 1 (1): 2–14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yardimci-Geyikçi, Ş. 2014. Gezi Park Protests in Turkey: A Party Politics View. The Political Quarterly 85 (4): 445–453.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yörük, E., and M. Yüksel. 2014. Class And Politics in Turkey’s Gezi Protests. New Left Review 89 (1): 103–123.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Prof. Ayhan Kaya for his comments and advices that assisted in the improvement of the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Surrey (UK), Guildford, UK

    Stavroula Chrona

  2. Kadir Has University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Cristiano Bee

Authors
  1. Stavroula Chrona
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Cristiano Bee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stavroula Chrona .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Arts and Communication, Malmö University, Malmö, Sweden

    Oscar Hemer

  2. Department of Communication, Business Information Technologies, Roskilde University, Roskilde, Denmark

    Hans-Åke Persson

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Chrona, S., Bee, C. (2017). The Gezi Movement Under a Connective Action Framework: Enhancing New Forms of Citizenship via Social Media. In: Hemer, O., Persson, HÅ. (eds) In the Aftermath of Gezi. Palgrave Studies in Communication for Social Change. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51853-4_9

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation