People flee as riot police fire tear gas on Taksim Square in Istanbul on Tuesday, June 11. Protests that began as a demonstration against the planned demolition of a park have grown into general anti-government dissent across the nation 
Protesters run behind a barricade during clashes in with police on June 11. 
A protester throws a tear gas canister back toward police on June 11. 
Photographers crowd around a protester posing in front of a riot police vehicle at Taksim Square on June 11. 
Protesters seek shelter behind a barricade on June 11. 
Protesters try to run from riot police on June 11. 
Riot police aim a water cannon at a protester as others take cover behind a makeshift shelter in Taksim Square on June 11. 
Police enter Taksim Square during clashes with protesters on June 11. 
Protesters take cover behind a barricade in Gezi Park in Istanbul on June 11. 
A protester uses a slingshot to throw stones at riot police on June 11. 
Protesters take cover behind a barricade in Taksim Square on June 11. 
A protester holds fireworks during clashes with riot police in Istabul on June 11. 
Riot police use water cannons and tear gas to disperse a crowd near Istabul's Taksim Square on June 11. 
A protester throws a tear gas canister back toward police on June 11. 
Riot police fire tear gas at demonstrators in Taksim Square on June 11. 
Police fire a water cannon at protesters on June 11. 
Protesters hold molotov cocktails in Taksim Square on June 11. 
A protester throws a stone during clashes with riot police on June 11. 
Protesters run from smoke as they clash with police in Istanbul on June 11. 
Protesters take cover behind a barricade as fireworks go off nearby on June 11. 
Medics carry Yasin Ayhan, 23, a protester who broke his leg in a raid early Monday, June 10, in Kugulu Park. Riot police doused thousands of protesters in Ankara with tear gas and jets of water for a second straight night. 
Protesters sleep at Taksim Square in central Istanbul on June 10. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned protesters who have taken to the streets demanding his resignation that his patience has its limits and compared the unrest with an army attempt six years ago to curb his power. 
A demonstrator is detained by police officers as protests resumed in Kizilay Square in Ankara on Sunday, June 9. 
A demonstrator covers his face with a makeshift gas mask during protests in Kizilay Square in Ankara on June 9. 
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, left, and his wife, Emine, wave to supporters upon their arrival in Ankara on June 9. Erdogan told supporters that "even patience has an end" as he went on the offensive against mass protests that have consumed Ankara and Istanbul. 
Erdogan addresses supporters from the top of a bus as police stand guard at Esenboga International Airport in Ankara on June 9. 
Protesters gather during a demonstration at Taksim Square in Istanbul, on June 9. 
A demonstrator runs toward police during clashes with riot police in Istanbul, on Saturday, June 8. 
Demonstrators shout slogans as they gather at Kizilay Square in Ankara, Turkey, on June 8. 
Women sing as people gather at Kizilay Square in Ankara on June 8. 
Protesters rest in Gezi Park next to Taksim Square during a demonstration in Istanbul on Friday, June 7. 
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during the opening session of the Ministry for European Union Affairs Conference on June 7 in Istanbul. Erdogan said today his Islamic-rooted government was open to "democratic demands" and hit back at EU criticism of his government's handling of a week of unrest. 
Supporters of Erdogan wave the Turkish flag upon the prime minister's arrival in Istanbul, on June 7. 
Protestors dance at Gezi Park in Taksim Square on Thursday, June 6. 
A man walks past damaged buses near Taksim Square on Thursday, June 6, in Istanbul, Turkey. 
A mother and her daughter read notes placed by protestors on a destroyed car in Taksim Square on June 6. Thousands of striking union members joined the anti-government protests on June 5, marching in Istanbul and Ankara in a sea of red and white union flags, drumming and yelling for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to resign. 
Protestors spend their day at Gezi Park on June 6. 
Protestors demonstrate near the office building of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul early on June 6. 
A municipal worker collects garbage set on fire by Turkish protesters in a restaurant district of Ankara on June 5. 
A woman is wheeled away by paramedics during clashes on Kizilay Square in Ankara on Wednesday, June 5. 
Protesters confront police forces during riots in a restaurant district of Ankara, on June 5. 
Demonstrators run for cover as police use water cannons and tear gas on the crowd in Ankara on June 5. 
Protesters gather in Taksim Square as they shout slogans while protesting on Tuesday, June 4, in Istanbul, Turkey. 
Riot police fire tear gas at demonstrators in Istanbul on June 4. 
Paramedics carry a woman injured during clashes between demonstrators and riot police in Istanbul on June 4. 
Turkish police detain a demonstrator during clashes in Istanbul on June 4. 
A protester looks on during clashes with Turkish police outside of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's office, near Taksim Square in Istanbul on Tuesday, June 4. 
Demonstrators wave their national flag on June 4, during a protest in Ankara. 
Protesters cover their faces with plastic. After chaotic scenes in the streets Monday that continued late into the night and sent tear gas wafting through the air, the situation was relatively calm on Tuesday morning in Istanbul's central Taksim Square, near the park where the movement began. 
A demonstrator takes cover at a road block between Taksim and Besiktas in Istanbul on June 4. 
Protesters clash with riot police between Taksim and Besiktas in Istanbul on Monday, June 3. 
Protestors pass bricks for building barricades during clashes with riot police in Istanbul on June 3. 
Riot policemen unload tear gas during clashes in Istanbul on June 3. 
Protesters throw riot police's tear gas back at them in Istanbul on June 3. 
Protester wounds are treated during clashes in Istanbul on June 3. 
Demonstrators set up road blocks between Taksim and Besiktas. Barricades remain up around the square, and Erdogan's opponents appear determined to continue the demonstrations despite the prime minister's comment on June 3 that he expects the situation to return to normal "within a few days." 
A medical team tends to a protester. The Turkish Medical Association claimed that at least 3,195 people had been injured in clashes on June 1 and June 2. Only 26 of them were in serious or critical condition, it said. 
Protesters stand atop a pile of rubble during clashes with Turkish police on Monday, June 3. 
Turkish riot police fire tear gas canisters to disperse protesters near Taksim Square on June 3. 
Police officers tend to a demonstrator during the violent clashes in Istanbul on June 3. 
A protester waves the Turkish flag from a rooftop at Taksim Square on June 3 as large crowds continue to demonstrate below. 
A protester wears a gas mask as smoke from a burned car fills the air at Taksim Square on June 3. 
Despite Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's call for calm on Monday, June 3, protests continued in Istanbul. Protesters carry the Turkish flag and shout against the government in Gezi Park near central Istanbul. 
After protests that lasted until the early morning, a protester sleeps in a damaged and vandalized vehicle in Taksim Square on June 3. Protests showed no sign of letting up on Monday, almost a week after a peaceful sit-in was met with a police crackdown, igniting the biggest anti-government riots the city has seen in a decade. 
A tired protester rests in front of the graffiti-sprayed wall of an information booth at Taksim Square in central Istanbul on June 3. 
Turkish protesters clash with riot police near the prime minister's office between Taksim and Besiktas early June 3. 
Protesters drive an excavator toward Turkish riot police as they make their way to Erdogan's office on June 3. 
During the clashes, volunteer doctors helped injured protesters in a mosque on June 3. 
A protester is silhouetted by a burning car at Taksim Square during clashes in the early morning of June 3. 
A protester covers his face on June 3 near Erdogan's office in Istanbul. 
Protesters clash with riot police in Istanbul on June 3. 
Protesters gather in Taksim Square in Istanbul on Sunday, June 2. 
Riot police fire tear gas during a protest against Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling AK Party in central Ankara on June 2. Sparked by the events in Istanbul, general anti-government protests have sprung up in Ankara. 
Demonstrators hide behind makeshift shields during clashes with Turkish riot police in Ankara on June 2. 
Police use a water cannon to disperse protesters outside Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's working office in Istanbul on June 2. 
Protesters cling to a police vehicle mounted with a water canon in Istanbul on June 2. 
Turkish police detain a protester during demonstrations in Ankara on June 2. 
A protester flashes a victory sign as he takes part in a demonstration in Ankara on Saturday, June 1 in support of the protests in Istanbul against government plans to demolish a park. 
Protesters clash with riot police in Istanbul, Turkey, on Saturday, June 1. 
Protesters clash with riot police near Gezi Park on June 1. Earlier this week, several dozen activists tried to stage a sit-in at the park, the last bit of green space left in Istanbul's Taksim Square, the city's transit and commercial hub. 
Turkish protesters wearing gas masks face off against riot police near Istanbul's Taksim Square on June 1. 
Riot police use tear gas in an attempt to disperse the crowd of demonstrators on June 1. 
A man flees the clashes between Turkish protestors and riot police on June 1. On Friday, May 31, riot police stormed the growing camp in Gezi Park with water cannons and tear gas, pushing protesters into surrounding streets and triggering the clashes that have continued for more than 24 hours. 
The clashes damaged surrounding businesses in Istanbul and forced them to close on June 1. 
A man catches his breath behind the line where clashes are taking place on June 1. 
A pair of tourists gasp for air as riot police use tear gas and water cannons the fend off the demonstrators. Turkish security forces allowed small groups of pedestrians to travel through the square. 
Protesters buy gas masks from a local shop near the square on June 1. 
Riot police fire tear gas into the crowd of protesters overnight on Friday, May 31. 
Demonstrators set up barricades and build a fire as they clash with Turkish officers on May 31. 
Friends carry an injured protester on May 31. More than a dozen people have been injured in the clashes. 
Riot police use tear gas and water cannons to disperse a crowd at Taksim Square on May 31. 
An activist wearing a gas mask is enveloped in a cloud of tear gas on May 31. 
A crowd scatters during clashes on May 31, as one demonstrator throws back the tear gas canister that was launched by riot police. 
Protestors brace themselves as they are fired upon with a water canon by Turkish police forces. 
A large group of demonstrators gather to protest the demolition of Gezi Park in Taksim Square on May 31. 
A Turkish riot policeman uses tear gas in Taksim Square on May 28. 
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
- David Perry: Plan to reconstruct Ottoman era barracks in Taksim Square revealed deep divisions
- When Atatürk modernized Turkey, he says, many resented parting with old Islamic ways
- Perry: Prime minister and his AKP party exploited that resentment in their rise to power
- The meaning and relevance of the Ottoman past remains a powerful question, he says
Editor's note: David M. Perry is an associate professor of history at Dominican University in River Forest, Illinois. His blog is How Did We Get Into This Mess. Follow him on Twitter.
(CNN) -- In 2012, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan defended the highly divisive renovation of Taksim Square in central Istanbul by invoking history. Referring to the plan to build a replica of a monumental 19th century Ottoman army barracks that once stood there, he said: "We are working to bring back history that has been destroyed. ...We will unite Taksim with its history."
As it turned out, Erdoğan's attempt to unite Taksim with its history has revealed very deep fissures in Turkish culture. Starting at the end of May, more and more opponents of the renovations began gathering in the square. Protests evolved into a general condemnation of the government, becoming more chaotic, with police attacking protesters with water cannons and tear gas. Thousands have been injured and at least two protesters and one police officer have died. The demonstrations have spread to other cities.
Although Erdoğan has claimed to be open to "democratic demands," he has denied the legitimacy of all the public unrest. A day after the prime minister proposed talks with protesters, bulldozers and riot police swept through the square and blanketed the area with tear gas. Chaos and standoffs between police and protesters continue.
Debating the causes of the conflict, some commentators focus on the role of Islam in Turkey; others emphasize disagreements about the nature of Turkish democracy, the lack of civil liberties, or the nascent environmentalist movement, which was stirred by plans to take down trees in the square's Gezi Park.
All these played a role in igniting unrest, but the issues surrounding the reconstruction of the Ottoman Taksim Military Barracks in particular point to deep unresolved historical tensions within the Republic of Turkey. The protesters and the government are engaging not only in a battle for their park and perhaps their country's future, but also for control over the past.
When Mustafa Kemal Atatürk founded the Republic of Turkey in 1923, after years of war, he was embraced by a population eager to return to the days of the great Caliphs. But Atatürk chose, instead, to modernize, Westernize, and secularize the country. He disbanded the Caliphate, secularized the education system, outlawed Sufi Islam, enforced gender equality, Westernized the Turkish alphabet, and famously banned the fez. But these radical and sometimes ruthless steps, especially those that ran counter to perceived Islamic mores, engendered deep resentment and resistance.
In the last decade, Erdoğan and his Justice and Development Party, known as AKP, have exploited that resistance as an element in their rise to power. Under AKP rule, the Ottoman past has re-emerged in a culturally powerful way. The movie "Fetih 1453," a highly dramatized account of the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453, had the biggest budget in the history of Turkish cinema, an investment handsomely rewarded by its box office returns.
Turkish television is full of Ottoman-era dramas and soap operas, including the wildly successful "Magnificent Century," set in the era of the famous emperor Suleiman the Magnificent. More and more aspects of elite Turkish culture embrace Ottoman architecture, fashion and even food. But according to some opponents of the AKP, the cultural embrace of Ottoman history promotes a political agenda of regional domination.
Zakaria: 'It is a culture war' 
Turkish police send tear gas into crowd 
Fireworks amid protests in Taksim Square 
Experts: Protests hurt Turkish economy The decision to rebuild a symbol of Ottoman militarism, the Taksim Military Barracks, like the decision to name the new Bosphorus bridge after Sultan Selim I, conqueror of the Arab world, feeds this speculation. In popular Turkish culture, the Taksim Barracks are associated with the killing of Christian army officers in 1909, while the Alevis -- a large minority group in Turkey -- remember Selim I as the murderer of their people. Thus, both bridge and barracks pit one view of history against another.
But the Ottomans were not merely expansionary conquerors, nor were they generally devoted to Islamic purity. At their best, the Sultans ruled over a surprisingly pluralistic society that enabled people of diverse religions and ethnicities to flourish and live in relative autonomy. Both non-Turkish Muslims and non-Muslims rose to great heights of political power. Jews fled from Christian persecutions into Ottoman territory. In the wake of the riots, elements of this Ottoman legacy have begun to emerge as well.
Devrim Evin, who played Sultan Mehmet II in "Fetih 1453," declined to join Istanbul's formal celebration of the 560th anniversary of the conquest of Constantinople. Instead, joining actors from "Magnificent Century," he went to Gezi Park to support the protests. Thus, the protesters were treated to actors playing Mehmet the Conqueror and Suleyman the Magnificent marching and tweeting alongside them.
Evin, like Erdoğan, invoked Ottoman history. He said, just before the violence began, that Mehmet preserved the Orthodox basilica Hagia Sophia when he took the city. "Such were our ancestors," he said. "They preserved things, did not destroy or tear down."
As with any turbulent situation, it's hard to predict what will happen in Gezi Park or within the broader cycles of social unrest emerging in Turkey. Erdoğan looks unlikely to back down, at least not without a huge loss of face. Because the AKP has enjoyed broad popular support for its agenda, it will require internal pressure from within the movement to push Erdoğan toward a consensus settlement.
But even if issues involving Taksim Square are eventually resolved without greater riots and brutality, the question of the meaning and relevance of the Ottoman past remains powerful.
In "Fetih 1453," Mehmet proclaims, "Making history is no job for cowards." The events unfolding in Taksim remind us that remembering history can be just as dangerous as making it.
Follow @CNNOpinion on Twitter.
Join us at Facebook/CNNOpinion.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of David Perry.
