Resistance and Hope: Ankara Peace Rally Victim Gunay Karakus stages an art show

Gunay Karakus who is a victim of the Ankara peace rally attack is staging an art show in Ankara.

Gunay has lost her lower leg in the massive attack against a peace rally in Ankara which has claimed the lives of 102 people.

The attack also left many wounded and disabled.

The responsibility of the government

As Kareem Shaheen reported on the Guardian, the attacks were different from an 'ordinary' terrorist attack that is experienced in European countries because for the opposition 'the Turkish state had failed to provide protection for the peace rally, and attacked individuals who tried to help at the scene with teargas shortly after the bombing'.

The reaction of the police, the official statements of the politicians and later on the jurisdiction process fed into the division between the government and the victims.

The response and the lack responsibility of the government outraged many in the opposition.

Alev Scott also wrote that the relatives of the victims were 'absolutely convinced that the attacks were orchestrated by – or at the very least carried out with the knowledge of – the state in an attempt to intimidate HDP voters and sow panic before November’s elections'.

Today, still, the attack represents not only the threat of ISIS and its ideology but also the deep divisions that lie between the opposition and the government and the AKP's struggle to hold on to power.

Resistance and Hope

In this context, where the peace process has ended and massive crackdowns occur on a daily basis, Gunay's theme of the exhibition is resistance and hope which represents what the peace rally and the movement was and is about.

The art show can be seen on 15-22 November at Galeri Cankaya, Ankara.

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