Thousands of Istanbul citizens walking to protest government
facebook.com
facebook.com
other pic https://twitter.com/SerkanBALBAL/status/340711369617833984/p...
3G works as the cellular providers maintain their own internet structure. However they deployed signal jammers to protest locations.
So.. We are basically fucked. Media outlets are still running cooking shows.
They tweeted street names where help is needed. They tweeted doctor / laywer phone numbers. Called Veterinarians for stray animals affected from police gas. Shared ways to deal with gas (like using acid reflux medicine on your face)
So, the government must be really afraid now.
Turkey dial up internet access +46850009990 or +492317299993 or +4953160941030 User:telecomix Password:telecomix
Probably won't help with filtering attempts, but should help somewhat if you go dark.
This man is pronounced dead, but maybe he survived with major injuries. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbRgMqkSvRg
Trees are leading the people..
By the way I can't believe we still have blind believers in RTE's virtual democracy.
Assuming you know Turkish:
"...Gediz Üniversitesi'nin Çankaya Yerleşkesi binasının camlarını kıran ardından Şair Eşref Bulvarı üzerindeki Mc Donald binasını da taş yağmuruna tutan eylemciler, Talatpaşa üzerindeki Sevinç Pastanesi'nin önündeki yolu kapattı."
By the way I say I have seen civil cops looting and protesters preventing them. But sure main stream media is the best news source.
Edit:
I believe these are also protesters trying to kill wounded cops? https://twitter.com/Kadirkaymakci/status/340791432891748352/...
These pictures proves nothing on your assertions "they are trying to kill us" and "civil police looting". Good luck on your protests.
[edit: I am sorry for that last bit. Such dismissal of (even emotional reactions to) police brutality (by people facing it), makes me kinda sick. I haven't been on many demonstrations, but even in Germany I've seen cops gleefully rush, shove around and arrest utterly harmless school kids for protesting Chirac when he visited; I wouldn't want to be a protester in Turkey, that's for sure, and godspeed to all involved. Still, sorry for attacking you personally, that was uncalled for and is part of the problem.]
What happened then is people, the one you are accusing of looting is used all their supply water and solutions to control and the fire.
We are trying to loot and make fires and destroy.
Coincidentally The cartoon guy in the link you sent look a lot like one of the protester (I assumed he is not police): http://www.radikal.com.tr/turkiye/izmir_yangin_yeri-1135843
look at the third picture.
http://imgur.com/gallery/WJnz6 #direngeziparki
please take a look at this to get the cruelty and violence exposed by the police:
Help us spread the freedom cry of the people of Turkey !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=...!
What started as a small protest to prevent the demolishing of a park to build a mall on it turned into full-blown riots after some stunning displays of brutality by the police. The commentators are saying that the Turks had lots of pent-up anger over the years and this allowed them to let it all out. The result is the largest series of riots Turkey has seen in recent years. At least in my lifetime, and I'm 28. I don't live there right now, but my Facebook feed is full of updates from friends and sometimes it moves faster than I can follow. There's lots of people, especially in Istanbul and the capital city of Ankara, but also in others including Izmir, Bursa, Antalya and my hometown, Adana.
And it means fuck-all.
People on the Internet - Reddit, especially - are sensationalizing the hell out of it and blowing it out of proportion, saying the government is about to fall. The reality? The government has not even acknowledged what is going on. Prime Minister Erdogan probably received some updates from his staff and then went to bed. He must be up now having his breakfast. He knows his regime is not in any danger, especially since he gutted the military over the past decade. The irony is that those same people who cheered his efforts to eliminate the military's influence in politics (saying it's "undemocratic") are the ones who are protesting on the streets now. I want to ask them, "how does it feel when you destroy your own insurance against fascism, idiots?" But it doesn't really matter. Hindsight is 20/20.
I certainly hope I'm wrong. But regardless of what happens, I know one thing: if there's a Hell, Erdogan will burn in it.
isn't it just a tip of the iceberg of what's recently going on in Istanbul? resettlements, demolishions of old architecture to replace with commerce, etc. I remember a local complaining about it when I've been there 2 years ago, since then I've heard more and more about how they are destroying neighborhoods. shame, it's an amazing city.
Ban on abortion was there before, is still there. My take, I support ban on abortion except some cases.
Ban on alcohol: They ban consumption in public places. it is becoming close to the Many Eurepean counties level. But not there yet.
Jailing journalists: Most of them involved with PKK (A terrorist organisation acknowledged by US and EU) directly. However, I agree the ones did not do action should have never been kept. There is a list: http://www.cnnturk.com/2012/guncel/03/07/tutuklu.gazeteciler...
Forcing Religion on children: If you mean mandatory religion and ethics lessons, it was there forever. This is bogus. My take, Governemnet should never deal with Religion.
Restrictions on TV: was there almost two decade ago.. RTUK was founded much before this government. Similar organisations exist in US and EU.
Recent events.. Well I blame government for being distasteful. Their architectural projects are far from beautiful. Also I dont understand their fetish on Ottoman-ism. There was no point resurrecting that stupid building on that park area. However, I also see protests more like opposition sides play ground. They find every opportunity to make things a show. That project was there for years and now it is time to protest? please. Also, a side note, if you stand on pressurized water like an idiot you fall and bleed.
Edited: Some wordings
Restrictions on TV: You do not /can not threaten to cancel a TV show as a prime minister because the show portrait a Ottoman sultan in a way he did not like (I do not watch tv I don't know the exact details but that’s basically what he said.) Still not a single government run TV station (basically all but two) said anything about the riots. How is that not a restriction?
Jailing journalists: I am talking about the ones that did not do anything but jailed. And half the army is in JAIL most not even formally accused for years and the people affiliated from the terrorist organization are called as witnesses imagine bin ladin as your star witness, and tell me this is not f.cked up.
TV: Well blame press for their cowardliness. Threatening means nothing. Things go court, you win or loose. If they had some balls, they would broadcast whatever they want. Wake up, press is a business. Plus note, I see a lot of coverage in gazettes. But not following TV for years, so cannot comment on that.
Jailing Journalists: Then you are talking about 10-20 people. It is a shame they are there. But would have been same in 1930s,40s,50s,60s,70s..
You can not go to court that’s the problem. Checkout today’s papers for Turkey sabah vatan zaman etc. You don't need to know Turkish you won't see a single picture of the riots. Here is the cover of one of the biggest sabah [1].
[1]https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/94205...
About the press, I will tell again. Mass media is a business. Some goes with Government, some goes with opposition. People like to read-watch whatever satisfies their own bias/beliefs. Other newspapers you probably like to read (Vatan, Cumhuriyet etc) is no better than examples you gave. Whining does not change this fact.
Also, C'mon. I see plenty of coverage in all newspapers.
btw abortion is forbidden in Poland, so is drinking on the street, and we have religion at primary school as well as other sorts of political and social influence by the church. and yeah, I know about how Turkey is leaning towards an islamic state and Ataturk is probably rolling in his grave, but your particular examples are not that radical to be honest. the Turk I talked to in Istanbul was a lecturer at an university and he told me they started replacing liberal principals with muslim ones, who obviously enforce their politics - penetrating the education system is serious stuff, not some beer ban (although I love beer).
I lived in Istanbul from 1990 to 2003 then in 2009. I can say today, overall it is a more modern city. But problems like traffic persist. Government are starting to restructure parts of the city destroying old housings. It is a good move but I am skeptical on their artistic eye.
Also business as usual, construction companies close to government are better supported. This situation never changes.
I'd be careful. such 'improvements' cause resettling, thus spliting local communities, and such actions smell really bad, not only because it pumps up property prices but it also weakens the integrity of citizens.
booze/cigarette bans and abortion discussions are a great distractor. usually brought up when there is some shit to cover.
> but your particular examples are not that radical to be honest.
Every time I head that I like to remind people that Iran in the 70s was not much different than your average European country [1].
Exactly. And even Kabul in Afghanistan was a very modern town and somewhat of a hippy mecca in the 1960s, with women in miniskirts, alcohol, etc.
I've spent a good bit of time in Turkey in the past 15 years. Modern Turks who don't wish to live under strict Islamic rule are very much on guard, since they know exactly where Erdogan and his type want the country to be (hint: it looks a lot closer to Iran than France). And while I criticized them for being "undemocratic" when I first visited Turkey in 1998, I wasn't the one who was going to have to permanently live under a strict Islamic government if Erdogan succeeded (and he was thwarted the first time). But comparing Turkey now to Turkey back then, he is succeeding now, little by little. And once his "reforms" are in place, there will be no going back.
You're free to believe that, I suppose, but you'd be ignoring most of the world's history. Revolutions happen when normal people rise up against the government, no the military. The military is usually busy shooting those people.
because when the military does that it's called a coup not a revolution and takes 2 days not 2 years.
but I too didn't get his point about the military.
I know it sounds off, but what the Founding Fathers did for the US, the generals did for Turkey. Not a very healthy one I agree, but at least they established whatever form of democracy Turkey has today.
The Young Turk Revolution, while supported by one army corp didn't topple the Sultan. The Sultan (Mehmed VI) was deposed by the Grand National Assembly of the Turkish Republic, a political body.
From what has happend so far pertaining to this situation, it seems like that is true: https://twitter.com/rmncr/status/340525959784562688 (translation via google: "Information: Gumussuyu Military Hospital citizen soldiers dealing mask. Thanks! #direngeziparkı #occupygezi")
I wonder what it would be like in the US if National Guard medics were to show up and pass out aid to people during OWS and related protests…
This article is grossly misleading. Papers and televisions are showing what is going on, one can read from internet [11, 12, 13], and express his opinion. I live in States and even I can access all these information from here. Turkey is a democracy with multi party system similar to France since 1946. Unfortunately the minority group who held the power in Turkey for decades lost their control of most of the government and state after years of corruption with 2002 elections. In 2001 Turkish economy experienced a similar economic meltdown after a "soft" coup of the people who support and make the current demonstrations. The economic repercussions was so deep it effected almost everyone similar to what has been going on in Greece and Spain. Since then the new government handled economy and democratic process so well, even in the current terrible economic situation of the world Turkey managed to become the fastest growing economy in Europe. Turkey has made the last debt payment to IMF couple of weeks ago. For the first time her existence Turkish economy's credit rating became investment grade by Moody's on May 17th this year[1]. Most importantly the clash with the Kurdish minority ended with a new peace process. This is by far the most important achievement of the current government given the 30 years of history of violence in South Easy of Turkey. Over 40K people have died since it started in 1980.
The person who wrote this article and those demonstrators are hoping to show their anger towards the government akin to Egypt's Tahrir Square demonstrations. However this is all reading it backwards. Current government is popularly supported by the people and the support has increased with each consecutive poll since 2002, leading to 50% [3] of the popular vote the last time. This government is leading a commission and effort to write a new constituition to raise the standards of human rights in Turkey. This is one of the biggest selling point to end the Kurdish violence since they now feel their rights will be protected better in the future. Current constitution is put together in 1980 by the people who engineered the last "hard" coup in Turkey [5], a coup literally executed with brute force, guns and tanks. With this government the efforts to get into EU increased tremendously [6] and actually it has been their strategy to balance the power in Turkey against Military's long standing anti-democratic ambitions and practices.
Recent demonstrations at a park in Istanbul got bigger by exploiting the grossly wrong police brutality. Unfortunately where there is demonstration be it in US [7], Spain [8] or Greece [9], in any country the police is very heavy handed. Otherwise the park that is in middle of the city is part of project [10] that will transform the area and close all the motor vehicle traffic and allow only pedestrians. This is going to be done by diverting traffic to underground roads that will be build as part of the project. Decision for the project taken by the people who was elected including members both from ruling and opposition party, and was voted unanimously.
Author of this article and those demonstrators are supporting the old regime. A regime that dictates certain ideology build around a cult leader like the ones in former Soviet Union, China and North Korea. Ours is Ataturk. You have to think like them, act like them, speak like them, live like them. During my mandatory military service I was forced to memorize who is Ataturk which was a list of 10 items that goes like this: 1) Ataturk was the best person in the world 2) Ataturk was best statesman in the world 3) Ataturk is the best military leader in the world. And thise list goes on and on...
Let me give you an example of what this people againts. Can you buy liquor after certain hours in States? Can you walk with an open beer can, alcohol bottle? No, because in States, varying by state, shops can not sell alcohol after 10pm or 2am. For example in England even places where liquor served as part of the service has to close by 1am. When this government made a similar, banning sale of alchol from 10pm to 6am, these people made a big noise. This is one of the arguments they have been telling during these demonstrations.
edit-1: I added some more references.
[1] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-16/turkey-raised-to-in... [2] http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/04/25/turkey-justice-central-ku... [3] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13740147 [4] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-10/turkey-s-kurtulmus-... [5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_Turkish_coup_d%C3%A9tat [6] http://www.cfr.org/turkey/turkeys-eu-bid/p8939 [7] http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/UC-Davis-pepper-spraye... [8] http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/29/spain-riot-polic... [9] http://www.businessinsider.com/greek-police-brutality-2011-6 [10] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Opean5HeR-8 [11] http://gundem.milliyet.com.tr/basbakanlik-a-yurumek-isteyen/... [12] http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/23426620.asp [13] http://www.radikal.com.tr/turkiye/gosterilerde_ilk_can_kaybi...
http://turkey.usembassy.gov/sm_053113.html
Couple of things. First, Kemer is pretty far away from the main cities that have the protests. Second, it's a tourist spot, so things should be fairly calm there.
Good luck, I hope you enjoy your visit!
If it gets too hot I would suggest you try a Turkish ice cream called Mado (similar to Italian gelato), or maybe a cool drink.
Also be warned that the 3 year old might get a lot of attention and people may give him sweets or soft drinks, particularly ice cream vendors or resort bar staff. This could be extremely dangerous as he'll be spoilt rotten. Most Turks absolutely love kids.
If you think you can cope with these risks then you'll be fine, but I'd understand if you decide to reconsider :)
The incidents are nothing different than what the police were doing to Kurdish protesters or Muslim protesters (whom you probably call Islamists) protesting the turban ban across the universities and govt offices and the Kemalist regime's actions against Islam for the sake of secularism for almost 100 years. Erdogan himself knows this better than anyone else. He was thrown into prison just because he read a poem by the Kemalist regime, its laws and its bureaucracy.
Simply put some residents in Istanbul did not want the authorities to destroy Gezi Park and build a mall instead. They were harmless and friendly. Police went brutal and the protests turned into resistance. Police and authorities acted in a more fascist way. They ignored people's right to protest and the anger increased and spread across the country. In my opinion, Erdogan himself should come up, apologize and hold the police and other authorities responsible for their actions and make them answer in front of the law. This is fascism, this is authoritarianism and we do not want it. We've had enough of it.
And the same guy, now prime minister jailed a world renowned pianist because he quoted a poem criticizing Islam (for foreigners technically court jailed him but they basically control that too) . Repeat after me Turkey as a country does not have a religion. You can believe in the power of the stone for all I care as long as you do not throw it on my head. Erdogan's actions are just doing that. I do not want to live in a country where kissing in public gets you arrested, homosexuals are hanged publicly or my daughter bought/sold like a common house good. When Erdogan criticizes something/someone (this went as far as calling the founding father a drunk which if it wasn't for him Turkey would be Christian country.) it is a democratic right when regular joe/journalist/MP does it he/she gets jailed.
I really don't understand this? How would Turkey be a christian country if it wasn't for Ataturk? The Seljuks invaded Constantinople in 1453.
The sentence about becoming Christian country is silly. It is the default cool-aid they give in elementary schools here.
I called my parents in Anatolia to ask them about the protests, and they didn't know there were any. Nothing on Turkish media about the protests. Stuff like this would have appeared on TV twenty years ago, but now they are all self-censored.
The main difference this time around, and the government's biggest mistake, has been the continued disproportionate police response...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=...!