Poets were urged to show their sympathy for protesters in Istanbul, as riot police fired tear gas and water cannon at protesters occupying Taksim Square, arrested protesting lawyers, and entered Gezi Park to deal with demonstrators there on Tuesday. Editors Nia Davies, Sascha Akhtar, and  Sophie Mayer, of Solidarity Park Poetry, said: “We offer our words in solidarity, as translations and inspirations drawn from the creative protests in words and actions taking place across Turkey, and we invite you to join us in doing the same.”

Their Solidarity Park Poetry blog quoted a report by English PEN that Turkey’s prime minister,  Recep Tayyip Erdogan, had invoked epic poetry to back his case that the protesters should move out. “Poetry, then, is at the heart of the struggle in Turkey, and — as with public space — no government, politician or party should be able to claim control over the power of poetry to inspire, persuade and empathise.”

Turkey’s most widespread anti-government protests in decades began on May 31 after a police crackdown on a sit-in by protesters objecting to a project replacing Istanbul’s Gezi park with a replica Ottoman-era barracks. After talks the government said it would suspend the plans, but the protesters said they intended to stay, as the focus of the protests had widened. Riot police moved in on Gezi Park on Saturday evening, using bulldozers snd teargas. 

There are details here on how to email poems to solidarityparkpoetry@gmail.com.