Now in History
It broke my heart when I saw images from my friends posted on facebook. For five days the Turkish press hadn’t shown the images of what is happening there right now. Instead, the TV news channels show penguins. Now the penguin is a symbol in Turkey.

Being censored and suppressed under this authoritarian and dictatorial regime is not good. Growing up as a gay man in Turkey I know these feelings. There is not enough freedom in my homeland. Three people killed, fifty thousand injured. 70 lawyers arrested. There is so much taboo and tradition. Now, at last, a young man protesting plays piano in Gezi Park.

It is happening in Turkey now: people fighting for freedom and democracy. So many people and my friends are hurt and police attacks them with tear gas, orange gas and water cannons.

I have been collecting these press photographs since the protests in Taksim square began on the 29th of May 2013. They are iconic images now in Turkey and all around the world. These are images of my friends, my family, my fellow Turkish citizens and… penguins.