Chapulling
{{Short description|Turkish neologism}}
File:Chappuling-day-2013.jpg's "Party Rock Anthem"]]
Chapulling ({{langx|tr|Çapulcu}}, {{IPA|tr|t͡ʃapuɫd͡ʒu}}) is a neologism originating in the Gezi Park protests, coined from Prime Minister Erdoğan's use of the term {{lang|tr|çapulcu}} (roughly translated to "marauders")Luke Harding, The Guardian, 10 June 2013, [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/10/turkish-protesters-capuling-erdogan Turkish protesters embrace Erdoğan insult and start 'capuling' craze] to describe the protesters. Çapulcu was rapidly reappropriated by the protesters, both in its original form and as the anglicized chapuller and additionally verbified chapulling, given the meaning of "fighting for your rights".AFP, The Express Tribune, 8 June 2013, [http://tribune.com.pk/story/560640/chapulling-turkish-protesters-spread-the-edgy-word/ 'Chapulling': Turkish protesters spread the edgy word]. Retrieved 15 October 2024. Chapulling has been used in Turkish both in its anglicized form and in the hybrid word form çapuling.
The word quickly caught on, adopted by the demonstrators and online activists, and became a viral video.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64q2GIqH7S8 Everyday I'm Çapuling !], YouTube video released June 4, 2013 Many took the concept further by integrating the unique nature of the demonstrations and defined it as "to act towards taking the democracy of a nation to the next step by reminding governments of their reason for existence in a peaceful and humorous manner."{{cite web|url=http://www.ibtimes.com/what-capuling-everyday-im-capuling-turkish-protest-video-goes-viral-1291541 |title=What Is Capuling? 'Everyday I'm Çapuling' Turkish Protest Video Goes Viral |publisher=Ibtimes.com |date= 4 June 2013|accessdate=2013-06-05}} Variations of chapulling were also coined for other languages.Posta, 5 June 2013, [http://www.posta.com.tr/turkiye/HaberDetay/Yeni-internet-fenomeni--Chapulling.htm?ArticleID=180614 Yeni Internet Fenomeni - Chapulling] {{in lang|tr}}
Background
The Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said during a speech on 2 June 2013, referring to the protesters:
{{blockquote|We cannot just watch some çapulcu
File:Everyday I'm çapuling - vector format.svg. ]]
Pronounced "cha-pul-ju" in Turkish, the traditional meaning of çapulcu has been rendered in English in a variety of ways, including "marauders",Hurriyet Daily News, 7 June 2013, [http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/gezi-park-community-commemorates-the-deceased-of-the-turkey-protests.aspx?pageID=238&nID=48379&NewsCatID=341 Gezi Park community commemorates the deceased of the Turkey protests] "bums", "looters", "vandals", and "riffraff".Jody Sabral and Zeynep Erdim, BBC, 8 June 2013, [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22823730 Will Istanbul's protesters have the last laugh?]
Reappropriation
The protesters quickly decided to reappropriate the term, and began to describe themselves as çapulcu.{{cite web|author=Florian Rötzer |url=http://www.heise.de/tp/artikel/39/39272/1.html |title=Chapulling in der Türkei - Telepolis |publisher=Heise.de |date=2013-04-26 |accessdate=2013-06-07}}BBC, 5 June 2013, [http://www.bbc.co.uk/turkce/multimedya/2013/06/130605_sokaktakiler_gokhan_tan.shtml Gezi Parkı: 'Apolitik çapulcu' ideolojisi] {{in lang|tr}} Within days, the usually negative term was being used as a positive term of self-identification. International supporters of the Gezi Park events posted social media photos of themselves holding messages of "I'm a chapuller as well" in their own languages. The movement was supported by the linguist and political critic Noam Chomsky,{{cite web|url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/Default.aspx?pageID=238&nID=48018&NewsCatID=341#.Uanl1IVsrKI.twitter |title=Gezi Park crackdown recalls 'most shameful moments of Turkish history,' says Chomsky |publisher=Hurriyetdailynews.com |date= |accessdate=2013-06-05}} who defined himself as a chapuller, recording the message that "everywhere is Taksim, everywhere is resistance".Huffington Post, 6 June 2013, [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/06/turkey-protests-snapshots_n_3396017.html Turkey Protests Snapshots: Yoga, Trash Crews And Barricades ]{{cite web|author=DirenGeziPark |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URjXx1eDJ0U |title=Noam Chomsky de çapulcu oldu |publisher=Youtube.com |date= |accessdate=2013-06-05}} Cem Boyner, Chairman of Boyner Holding, also supported the movement by holding a banner saying "I'm neither rightist nor leftist, I am a chapuller."{{cite web | url = http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/ekonomi/23438303.asp | title = Cem Boyner'den, 'Ben de çapulcuyum' çıkışı | date = 5 June 2013 | accessdate = 5 June 2013 | publisher=Hürriyet |language=Turkish}} The word became widely used on social networking sites, with Facebook users update their statuses to say that they were "capulling", and T-shirts and banners were produced with chapulling slogans, and a Ustream-based live stream from Gezi Park was launched under the name Çapul TV.[http://www.capul.tv/ http://www.capul.tv/] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130606233556/http://www.capul.tv/ |date=2013-06-06 }}, [https://twitter.com/capul_tv @capul_tv]
It was reported that the Turkish Language Association (the language regulator for the Turkish language) had changed the description of "çapulcu" in their online dictionary to mean "rebel" instead of its traditional meaning, "looter", in response to the events,{{cite news|title=TDK 'çapulcu'nun tanımını değiştirdi!|url=http://haber.sol.org.tr/devlet-ve-siyaset/tdk-capulcunun-tanimini-degistirdi-haberi-74223|accessdate=6 June 2013|newspaper=soL|date=5 June 2013 }} but the Association said this was not the case.{{cite news|title=TDK'dan 'çapulcu' açıklaması|url=http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/23445584.asp|accessdate=6 June 2013|newspaper=Hürriyet|date=6 June 2013}} One online Turkish-English dictionary, Zargan, adopted the new word chapulling in what Agence France Presse described as "a gesture of solidarity with the demonstrators". It was also added to the Tureng dictionary and Urban Dictionary.Hürriyet, 5 June 2013, [http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/planet/23440261.asp Gezi Parkı eylemleri yepyeni bir fiil yarattı: çapullamak] {{in lang|tr}}Akşam , 5 June 2013, [http://www.aksam.com.tr/yasam/chapulling-literature-girdi/haber-212986 Chapulling literatüre girdi] {{in lang|tr}}
By 8 June the Turkish Patent Institute had received 16 applications for çapulcu-related trademarks, covering items such as toilet paper, drinks, and a newspaper.Radikal, 8 June 2013, [http://www.radikal.com.tr/turkiye/capulcu_markasi_icin_16_basvuru-1136820 "Çapulcu" markası için 16 başvuru]
Following the protests in Turkey the Istanbul-based platform InEnArt presents Urban Voices which opens a critical view on cultural practices and phenomena that expresses the ethos, aspirations, and dreams of a specific population during a well-defined era and that triggered dramatic cultural changes. One section of Urban Voices focusses on the protest culture in Turkey as described with the neologism Çapuling. It describes and reflects the visual culture, humor and irony of the peaceful protesters (the Çapulcu) as it developed in many forms in Turkey during 2013.{{cite web|title= Why Turks are good at protesting|url=http://www.inenart.eu/?p=10008|work=InEnArt| date=14 June 2013 |accessdate=14 June 2013}}
For the exhibition Made in Turkiye presented by NoLaB in 2017 at Hasköy Spinning Factory, the participating artists continue to show a reflection on traditional Turkish culture by recreating old handcraft in an innovative, ironical and artistic way.{{cite web|title= Made in Turkiye|url=http://www.inenart.eu/?p=21683|work=InEnArt|accessdate=11 April 2017}}
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
{{commons category|Chapulling}}
- ekşi sözlük [http://eksisozluk.com/chapulling--3864218 "Chapulling"] {{in lang|tr}}
- Instela, [https://tr.instela.com/chapulling--520693 "Chapulling"] {{in lang|tr}}
- seslisözlük, [http://opensearch.seslisozluk.com/?word=chapulling&ssQBy=0&OpenSearch=1 "Chapulling"] {{in lang|tr}}
- Tureng Dictionary, [http://tureng.com/search/chapulling "Chapulling"]
- Language Log, [http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=4748 "Çapuling"]. Mark Liberman, 16 June 2013, 8:59 am. Accessed 16 June 2013.
{{Gezi Park protests}}