A Death Provokes Anti-Government Protests in Turkey
The Arab Alawite community of Antakya holds the government responsible for the unprecedented tensions in their once peaceful town after Ahmet Atakan’s death on Sept. 9.
ANTAKYA, Turkey — The sentiment in Antakya’s Arab Alawite community is that anyone joining the protests risks their lives. The mood in this city is tense, and the tension does not promise to dissipate anytime soon.
On Monday, Sept. 9, the Alawite youth in the Armutlu neighborhood gathered in support of the protest in Antakya, where Middle East Technical University (METU) students boycotted a government road project that aims to cut down around 3,000 trees to construct a highway in their campus' vicinity, as well as to reinforce their demand that the state find those responsible for the deaths of Abdullah Comert, 22, and Ali Ihsan Korkmaz, 19. Both were members of the Arab Alawite community in Hatay, and they died in June while protesting to save the trees at Gezi Park in Istanbul.
