Istanbul letter
As soon as the judgment of the mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamogl, was announced on March 19, the signs and slogans exploded through the demonstrations. A wave of poetic and satirical drawings has flooded Turkish streets, strongly challenging the current regime with rare art and spontaneous messages. In the University Campus, in the secondary schools and in the centers of the city, the same Wind of IRA has been blowing for a month. They ask for the launch of the mayor, the main opponent of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (who has been in power for 22 years), mixed with democratic and popular demands.
Written on a marker or pencil in cardboard or fabric pieces, the phrases shot down the air. The words buzzed. They rumbled. They collided with humor and subversion. It was a metaphysical protest (“the star is born”). Philosophical criticism (“we will wisely rebuild what ignorance has destroyed”). Ontological revolt (“The world is ours”, written in French).
Here, a teacher’s hero firm: “Sorry, children, there is no class today, your teacher resists your future.” There, a more bitter student denounced the abuses of a regime that runs the risk of ending the rule of law in Türkiye: “Sometimes, the things that destroy us repeated.” Another, under a thick mustache: “Erdogan, you have consumed our lives.”
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