Turkey protests show no sign of letdown
Source: CNN
Istanbul (CNN) -- More than a week after protests began sweeping Turkey, demonstrators kept up their occupation of bustling Taksim Square on Monday amid appeals from the government to abandon the rallies and return to work and school.
What began as a small sit-in over the Turkish government's plan to demolish a park in central Istanbul in favor of a shopping arcade has morphed into the biggest protest movement against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan since he was elected more than 10 years ago.
On Monday, a confederation of unions claiming some 240,000 members added its voice to the anti-Erdogan chorus, saying it would go on strike against what it called the "fascism" of Erdogan's ruling party.
Angry protesters -- who say police have responded to their demonstrations with excessive force and accuse Erdogan of being paternalistic and authoritarian -- show no sign backing down. ....
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/03/world/europe/turkey-protests/index.html
This story is being blocked in Turkey, per reports on social media.
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Coyotl
(15,262 posts)ROFL:
Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya leader brands Turkish anti-government protests an 'uprising of alcoholics'; says PM Erdogan is Islamist role model
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/73034/Egypt/Politics-/Turkish-protesters-are-alcoholics,-says-Egyptian-I.aspx
Protests against government plans to tear down trees in Istanbul's Taksim Square turned violent on Friday after a police crackdown.
Tighter restrictions on alcohol sales and warnings against public displays of affection have provoked protests by activists who accuse Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) of trying to turn secular-oriented Turkey into a more conservative country.
At least a thousand people have been injured during four days of clashes and more than 1700 arrested. .....
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)Turkey Protesters Take to Twitter as Local Media Turns a Blind Eye
http://mashable.com/2013/06/03/twitter-turkey-protests/
Twitter playing a role in political demonstrations around the world is far from a new phenomenon — the platform was crucial during the Egyptian revolution of 2011, for example. However, data collected since Friday suggest Turks are using protest-related hashtags to transmit information from the ground to an extent never before witnessed: 10 million tweets have been sent using the most popular hashtags over the last three days, according to data from New York University's Social Media and Political Participation laboratory. ...
These updated data have not yet been published elsewhere:
riderinthestorm
(23,272 posts)Coyotl
(15,262 posts)A Turkish Spring? Over 1,000 Injured as Anti-Government Protests Spread Outside of Istanbul
http://www.democracynow.org/2013/6/3/a_turkish_spring_over_1_000
Turkey is seeing its biggest wave of protests against the ruling government in many years. Tens of thousands of people rallied across the country Sunday for a third consecutive day of mass demonstrations. The unrest erupted last week when thousands of people converged at Istanbul’s Taksim Square, a public space reportedly set for demolition. The protests have grown to include grievances against the government on a range of issues, and protesters have managed to remain despite a heavy police crackdown, including tear gas and rubber bullets. The Turkish government says around 1,000 people have been detained at more than 200 protests nationwide. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has dismissed the uproar as the work of political opponents and "extremists," vowing to proceed with governments plans to remake Taksim Square. "I cannot tell you how empowering this is," says Turkish scholar and activist Nazan Ustundag. "This is a country known for [police] brutality and for the Turkish people’s unquestioned loyalty to the state. So it’s very exciting all these different sections of people [are] standing [up for] the last public space which wasn’t given to private interests."
Arctic Dave
(13,812 posts)The people they are demonstrating against are fascist. We have them here also and they ned to be called out for they are.
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)More Than 150 arrested at NC Legislature during Monday protests!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014500004
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)When does the last straw fall, when is the proverbial line crossed? Easier to say in hindsight!
alp227
(32,020 posts)Turkish riot police launched round after round of tear gas against protesters on Monday, the fourth day of violent demonstrations, as the president and the prime minister staked competing positions on the unrest.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan rejected the protesters' demands that he resign and dismissed the demonstrations as the work of Turkey's opposition. President Abdullah Gul, for his part, praised the mostly peaceful protesters as expressing their democratic rights.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/violence-flares-4th-day-turkish-protests
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)What the media is barely telling you about the historic and unprecedented civilian uprising across Turkey
June 3, 2013
What followed was a nationwide uprising against the anti-democratic rule of Turkey’s Prime Minister Erdogan as police brutality became a symbol and rallying point against an increasingly unpopular government. This regime has, bit by bit, stripped away the rights and liberties of its people. Despite promising respect for democratic principles, Erdogan has held a tight grip on media and clamped down on the opposition. During the protests over the past five days, state-run media instead ran story after story on Miss Turkey and “the world’s ugliest cat.”
Social media was said to have been the galvanizing force behind the uprisings in places like Iran and Egypt, and so it is no surprise that the Turkish government is now seeking to silence platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. After protests began, the authorities severed access to these popular social media sites, hoping that word of what had transpired would not get out. Even the Western media, which appears to have fallen well short of its obligation to report the truth, remains curiously silent, as if dependent on social media to gauge newsworthiness.
I hope to help turn the tables a bit here. This video, which I hope you’ll share, was made by a “Young Turk” named Gosku Eroglu. It hopes to convey to the world ....
Leontius
(2,270 posts)instead of waiting for the army to defend a secular society by ousting Edrogan and his slow motion Islamifacation of Turkey.
BadtotheboneBob
(413 posts)After all, he is responsible for the secular Turkish state after the Ottoman Empire collapsed and he abolished the caliphate.
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)What is Happenning in Istanbul?
01/06/2013
To my friends who live outside of Turkey:
I am writing to let you know what is going on in Istanbul for the last five days. I personally have to write this because at the time of my writing most of the media sources are shut down by the government and the word of mouth and the internet are the only ways left for us to explain ourselves and call for help and support.
Last week of May 2013 a group of people most of whom did not belong to any specific organization or ideology got together in Istanbul’s Gezi Park. Among them there were many of my friends and yoga students. Their reason was simple: To prevent and protest the upcoming demolishing of the park for the sake of building yet another shopping mall at very center of the city. There are numerous shopping malls in Istanbul, at least one in every neighborhood! The tearing down of the trees was supposed to begin early Thursday morning. People went to the park with their blankets, books and children. They put their tents down and spent the night under the trees. Early in the morning when the bulldozers started to pull the hundred-year-old trees out of the ground, they stood up against them to stop the operation.
They did nothing other than standing in front of the machines.
No newspaper, no television channel was there to report the protest. It was a complete media black out. ....
Catherina
(35,568 posts)On top of all that, the government control over its people’s personal lives has become unbearable as of late. The state, under its conservative agenda passed many laws and regulations concerning abortion, cesarean birth, sale and use of alcohol and even the color of lipstick worn by the airline stewardesses.
...
Catherina
(35,568 posts)...
"The Turkish media have embarrassed themselves," Caliskan said. "While the whole world was broadcasting from Taksim Square, Turkish television stations were showing cooking shows. It is now very clear that we do not have press freedom in Turkey."
...
The battle appears far from over. Erdogan refused to back down on the development project that triggered the protests – the demolition of the city centre park to make way for a shopping centre, mosque and a replica of an old military barracks.
"I am not going to seek the permission of (the opposition) or a handful of plunderers," he said. "If they call someone who has served the people a 'dictator', I have nothing to say. My only concern has been to serve my country … I am not the master of the people. Dictatorship does not run in my blood or in my character. I am the servant of the people."
http://refreshingnews99.blogspot.in/2013/06/turkish-pm-there-is-now-menace-which-is.html
eissa
(4,238 posts)So easy to meddle in the internal affairs of your neighbors, and attack their response to protestors. How ironic that Erdogan acts just like any other dictator. The only difference is that in Syria -- where Turkey supports the protestors -- the opposition is comprised of fundies/terrorists, while those in his own country are actually pro-democratic and peaceful
Catherina
(35,568 posts)#Turkish #Protester waving the Turkish Flag for #OccupyGezi
Livestream: http://www.livestream.com/revoltistanbul
Catherina
(35,568 posts)Erdogan risks the 'must go' path
By Pepe Escobar
...
Gezi park's destruction follows a globally tested neoliberalism racket; it will be replaced by a simulacrum - in this case a replica of the Ottoman Artillery Barracks - housing, what else, yet another shopping mall. It's crucial to note that the mayor of Istanbul, also from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), owns a retail chain that will make a killing out of the mall. And the man holding the contract for this "redevelopment" is no less than Erdogan's son-in-law.
...
Friends of Turkey, anyone?
Erdogan may have admitted, grudgingly, that his police forces overreacted. Yet he can do no better than accuse the protesters, derided as "looters", of being "linked with terror" and having "dark ties"; their sole aim would be to cost the AKP votes in the 2015 parliamentary elections. He bragged he could bring out a million AKP supporters to the streets for every 100,000 protesters. Well, 5,000 of them have already managed to throw stones at his office in Besiktas.
Protests have already spread to Izmir, Eskisehir, Mugla, Yalova, Antalya, Bolu, Adana and even AKP strongholds such as Ankara, Kayseri and Konya. They are at the tens of thousands. As car horns and residents banging pots and pans from balconies supporting the protests are now to be heard every night in Ankara and Istanbul (even in sleepy residential areas on the Asian side), this may be reaching hundreds of thousands.
There's no question the Taksim Square/Occupy Gezi/Down with the Dictator movement is quickly expanding to a cross-section of secular Turkey totally opposed to the AKP and Erdogan's highly personalized/autocratic mix of hardcore neoliberalism and conservative religion.
...
http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MID-01-030613.html?source=mm802&source=mm802
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)to cover their political asses as they try to enrich themselves.
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)
http://www.policymic.com/articles/45849/taksim-square-protests-13-photos-showing-severity-of-the-protests
Here are thirteen pictures from Twitter that show why we should take offense with mainstream media for not covering what could become an historic event.
Is This Arab Spring 2.0? Clearly, Gezi Park is a microcosm of seething resentment that has deeper roots, and urban planning spats like this are at the bottom of the list of grievances.
Why Has Turkey Exploded In Protest? Read more on the unfolding situation. .....
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)Turkey’s Secular Awakening
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/06/05/turkey_s_secular_awakening
Turkey has witnessed big demonstrations before, of course -- but they've always been staged by a single group, defined by either ethnicity or ideology. This is the first time that people from all walks of life have joined forces to constrain the power of their country's leaders.
The changes occurring in Turkey are evident in its new, up-and-coming middle class, whose members have formed the core of the protest movement. A friend of mine -- let's call him Mehmet -- works near Istanbul's Taksim Square, the center of the demonstrations. Mehmet had always been a pretty typical yuppie, more interested in wine-tasting than politics. But since the demonstrations erupted, he has been consumed by them and vows to carry on until Erdogan backs down. Another friend, who teaches at a private college in the coastal city of Izmir, says his best students, all from conservative, prosperous families, were exhausted from their nightly clashes with police. He tells me that taxi drivers and shopkeepers who hail from the Black Sea, like Erdogan's family, have told him they voted for the AKP but have been turned into the party's enemies by the brutality of the police and the prime minister's contemptuous rhetoric.
Those who have opposed the AKP since it won power in 2000 have always believed that Erdogan and his cohorts are thinly disguised Islamists, intent on using the mechanisms of democracy to impose their values on the rest of the country. Their fears have been bolstered ....
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)This hashtag has been climbing fast.
Worldwide Trends
#2
#WeAreGezi
https://twitter.com/search?q=%23WeAreGezi
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)Coyotl
(15,262 posts)The latest violence in days of angry protests erupted after thousands of union workers filled the central Kizilay square in the Turkish capital on Wednesday, urging Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to resign.
Ambulances took away at least four people who collapsed as the gas blew into nearby restaurants, said an AFP news agency photographer at the scene.
Erdogan's government earlier defended its democratic record after the United Nations, the United States and other Western powers voiced concern over allegations of police brutality.
................
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)36 Surreal And Defiant Photos From Istanbul’s #OccupyGezi
These are the quirky, tired, and dramatic faces of Turkish activism.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/36-surreal-and-defiant-photos-from-istanbuls-occupygezi
