Sense of smell is the strongest memory trigger and thus we could make people remember their memories from the Gezi Park Protests by getting them to smell tear gas again. Thus we decided to create tear gas scented candles.

Along with the hashtag #BiberGaz?Kokunca (#WhenItSmellsTearGas), we sent Tear Gas Scented Candles to hundreds of people from different sections of society, primarily activists, influencers, Gezi victims and journalists, who had been exposed to tear gas during the protests. When lit, the candles triggered their memory with the scent it released. Thus, those who lit the candles relived memories from the days of Gezi Park Protests.

Gezi Park Protests is one of the biggest social protests in Turkish history. There have been cases of severe injury and death cause of police’s disproportionate use of tear gas. In time all this strife has lost popularity and fell into oblivion and Turkish government decided to order 1.9 million more tear gas from South Korea. In the second anniversary of Gezi Park Protests, Amnesty International wants to recreate social awareness against the government’s this decision.

The project created great hype on social media and grabbed the headlines of leading national and international newspapers and news websites. Thus, we reached millions of people with zero media budget. Due to the scale of public awareness that was aroused against disproportionate use of tear gas by the Turkish police, the Turkish government silently cancelled their order for 1.9 million tear gas canisters.

The Gezi Park Protests were one of the biggest social protests in Turkish history. There have been numerous cases of severe injuries and death caused by the extreme amounts of tear gas used by the police. However, the strife it caused lost its popularity and fell into oblivion in time. Meanwhile the Turkish government placed an order of 1.9 million more tear gas canisters from South Korea. On the second anniversary of Gezi Park Protests, Amnesty International wanted to arouse social awareness against this decision taken by the government.