Taksim Square carries a significant symbolic importance in May Day celebrations. On May 1, 1977, 34 people were killed during a Labor Day gathering at the square when shots were fired into the crowd from a nearby building leading to an intervention by security forces and armored vehicles. Most of the casualties resulted from the panic caused by the intervention among hundreds of thousands of participants.

When participants gathered in Taksim Square this Sunday, they commemorated those who lost their lives 34 years ago by leaving carnations at the location where the incident first started. In an attempt to replicate the setting of the bloody gathering, they also hung on the outer walls of the Atatürk Cultural Center (AKM) the same gigantic May Day poster that was hung there on the day of the tragic incident.  

“Those who are responsible for the incident in 1977 should be identified and brought to justice. We owe this to the people who died,” said Mustafa Kumlu, head of the Confederation of Turkish Labor Unions (Türk-İş. “This has been a dark stain on Turkish democracy for 34 years.”

After the 1977 incident, Taksim Square was closed to May Day celebrations, with unions only being allowed back into the square last year.

Participants at this year´s gathering were from labor unions as well as opposition parties. Pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) representatives also joined the celebration. Kurdish songs were played and announcements were made in Turkish and Kurdish at the square.

In a show of unity, fan groups from three Turkcell Super League teams, Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray and Beşiktaş also marched together to Taksim Square in the morning.  

People also gathered to commemorate the day in other cities throughout Turkey