Taksim Square at night, where police linger behind the scenesSky Holmes

Let’s start with Sunday 10th of August, the date of the first direct democratic presidential election in Turkey’s ninety-one year old history, we hear. I am taking a break from my project on refugees, mainly Syrians, here in Istanbul and am covering the election. I am not alone in predicting that Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s Mafioso Prime Minister will swap one executive role for another, becoming President. He achieves this with 52 per cent of the vote, but does he have the support of his people? He has long been a controversial figure: corruption charges are filed against this man at an increasing rate, most notably the December 2013 unravelling of a corruption circle that many place Erdogan at the centre of. There are also claims that the elections are conducted undemocratically, if not fixed. Erdogan’s rule has always been autocratic and, arguably, undemocratic (certainly by our ugly, intrusive, ‘Western standards’) but Erdogan remains popular depending on who one speaks to here. Despite a dedicated and large support base, his time as PM saw Turkey become the number one jailer of journalists in the world (both 2012 and 2013). Now, his party, the Justice and Development Party (AKP), appears to be consolidating power under the guise of ‘democracy’.

Then there is the reason why I have decided to cover the election from Taksim Square and Gezi Park. Erdogan and the ground I stand on share a history. Last year seven people were killed here, murdered by the police in May, during the Gezi Park protests. Twelve lost an eye to tear gas canisters while around 8000 were injured following what started as a peaceful protest against plans to transform an urban park into a shopping mall. Erdogan pushes forward with these plans today. The reaction of the police in Taksim Square and Gezi Park in May 2013 was worthy of a police state; Erdogan’s rigid plans have shown him to be a bulldozer without brakes.

I am at the Square from 8am till 4am the following day. In the morning I notice a few more armed officers than usual, and the odd bus packed with armed police and riot shields. Against all advice I take lots of photos and try to enter a police press conference before banging the side of an armoured vehicle to see if it sounds like anyone is inside, to no avail. The police start to notice my presence, as I begin to notice theirs. Pretty soon a game of cat and mouse begins. At one point an officer emerges from the shadows as I photograph locked, unoccupied buses that I realise are back-up vehicles. The huge, armed police force I begin to notice around every corner and waiting on many a rooftop is, most likely, a fraction of a huge operation for Turkey’s first direct democratic presidential election. The attitude of the police force is absurd. “No camera, no photos.” This is a surreal denial of their existence, surely, provoking only nervous laughter. “No photos, no photos at all?” I ask, “Not of the sky, nature, the buildings?” “We see you,” he replies, with a jab at his eyes. In the heat of the moment I’m annoyed that I have been followed, I’m annoyed that these fascist dogs whose eyes everyone avoids are conducting an operation around a Square filled with Syrian refugees sleeping in exhaustion and grungy, hipster teens pretending the Syrians aren’t there, I’m annoyed that he feels he needs to point out that the police see everything when I’ve been seeing that all day. “I see you,” I retort, pointing to my eyes and then to my camera before walking away.

On one side of the square is the rigidly imposed restricted space that the police enforce control of via a large cordoned off area just outside of their station-fortress, and on the other is an area where the public’s autonomy of Gezi has happened organically. Arguably, Gezi has become sacred ground for many and a cursed ground for the police. Tonight’s set-up acts as a dividing line between those who are supporters of Erdogan, and opposite, those who (quite passively, by occupying the controversial space en masse) oppose him. I’m reminded of one of those images of medieval battles where both sides face off, ready to charge. This time, however, one side of this iconographic imago must be replaced with coughing Syrians, kids dragging each other round in cardboard boxes and, oddly, European tourists.

The police presence near Taksim SquareSky Holmes

Turning around to the back of Gezi Park, I notice a trail of coaches filled with more police: the front and rear of Taksim Square and thus Gezi are blocked. I gradually discover that the Square is surrounded, squared in. If anything happens tonight, there will be higher causalities than the Gezi Park protests of 2013. Anything from a shout to a firecracker immediately draws police attention. Nothing can happen here; the police are ready to occupy the Square and the pseudo-protestors would have nowhere to run to if they needed to. Even the small side streets brim with riot police and the metro entrances and exits are sealed. This is a twisted form of social conservatism that conserves social spaces for the police; where the police are politically stronger than the military who are often arrested for ‘planning to overthrow the government’. A motorbike’s exhaust splutters and there is a break in people’s conversations, followed by some nervous laughter. Although a successful country in many respects, modern Turkey is a state of fear. At midnight, once Erdogan’s victory is announced, nearly all of the police vehicles leave.

I am glad those here who oppose Erdogan did not act this evening. Protest would have been an act of self-harm.

Perhaps passivity has secured a success for the Erdogan opposition. Civilians remain but the police have left. But even if this constitutes success, a far more tangible victory was won by Mr Erdogan, Turkey’s new President who seems to fear his own pride, his own people.

This evening, then, is something of a non-story. The real stories are yet to come.

Note: A few days later the police are arresting the police for spying on the AKP after some officers participated in an investigation into government corruption that showed the government to be corrupt. The current arrests seem to be part of a government-backed initiative.

Sky is the founder of HaveFace (haveface.org).