*** Welcome to piglix ***

Taksim Square massacre


The Taksim Square massacre (Turkish: Kanlı 1 Mayıs) relates to the incidents on 1 May 1977, the international Labour Day on Taksim Square in Istanbul, Turkey. The event came within the scope of the wave of political violence in Turkey of the late 1970s.

In the Ottoman Empire, the first celebration of Labour Day was organized in Skopje in 1909. In Istanbul, Labour Day was first celebrated in 1912. No celebrations could be organized between 1928 and 1975. On 1 May 1976 the Confederation of Revolutionary Trade Unions of Turkey (DISK) organized a first rally on Taksim Square with mass participation.

Rumours that Labour Day 1977 would turn out bloody were circulated by the Turkish press before the rally, once again organized by DISK. The leadership of DISK known to support Workers Party of Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye İşçi Partisi, TİP), the Socialist Workers' Party of Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye Sosyalist İşçi Partisi, TSİP) and the then-illegal Communist Party of Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye Komünist Partisi, TKP) had banned the participation of the Maoist bloc (at the time acting under names such as the Liberation of the People, the Path of the People and Union of the People). It was expected that these groups would clash with each other.

The estimates on the number of participants in the Labour Day celebrations on Taksim Square in 1977 is usually given as 500,000 citizens. Many participants and in particular the Maoist bloc had not even entered the square when shots were heard. Most witnesses stated that they came from the building of the water supply company (Sular İdaresi) and Intercontinental Hotel (now the Marmara Hotel), the tallest building in Istanbul in 1977. Subsequently the security forces intervened with armoured vehicles making much noise with their sirens and explosives. They also hosed the crowd with pressurized water. People tried to escape through Kazancı Yokuşu, the nearest exit from the square, however a track blocked escape route. Most casualties were caused by the panic that police intervention created.


...
Wikipedia

...