Unrest in Turkey

Terrorists among Protestors: Erdogan

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that members of a "terrorist organisation" were taking part in deadly anti-government protests sweeping Turkey and refused to cancel a controversial Istanbul development plan that sparked them.

He said seven foreigners implicated in the unrest had been arrested.

"Among the protesters, there are extremists, some of them implicated in terrorism," Erdogan told reporters in Tunis, on the final day of a north African tour that has been overshadowed by the unrest back home.

"Supporters of this terrorist organisation were present" in Istanbul's Taksim Square, epicentre of the protests, he added.

He did not specify the nationalities of the detained foreigners or where they had been arrested.

"Seven foreigners have been implicated in the unrest, six of whom have appeared before the public prosecutor and one of whom is under arrest.

"An inquiry is taking place to determine the manner in which they took part in the violence," the prime minister said.

Since last weekend, thousands of angry demonstrators opposed to the conservative policies of Erdogan's Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) have taken to the streets of Turkey's main cities calling for him to quit.

A heavy-handed police response to a peaceful demonstration against the redevelopment of Istanbul's Gezi Park next to Taksim Square was the initial spark for the nationwide unrest that has now claimed three lives.

Erdogan has previously defied the protesters, dismissing them as "extremists," and on Thursday he defended the urban development plan.

"The project respects (Turkey's) history, culture and environment... What we are doing is to protect the rights of the majority and to preserve the beauty of Istanbul," he said, adding that he did not link the environmental activists to the unrest.

"We know very well who is implicated in the troubles, and I exclude all citizens concerned about preserving the environment."


Source : Sapa-AFP /sdv
Date : 06 Jun 2013 15:51
 
Snapshots from Protests

The protests in Turkey that began over government plans to uproot trees in Istanbul's main square to make way for a shopping mall have entered their seventh day. The protests have grown into something much bigger than protecting trees, drawing on a deep undercurrent of discontent against what many feel is the increasing arrogance of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and have spread to cities across the country.

In the frequent, violent clashes that have occurred with police, two people have died, another is on life support, and about 1,000 have been wounded, medical services and rights groups say.

The protests' focus remains Taksim Square and its Gezi Park in central Istanbul, which has been occupied by demonstrators of all walks of life for more than a week. And amid the seriousness of the protests, there is also much humor.

A NEW WORD EMERGES

In the first days of the protests last week, Erdogan dismissed the demonstrators as "capulcu" (pronounced CHA-pul-dju) - a Turkish word which translates as marauder, looter or plunderer. Protesters quickly turned the word to their advantage. They made it their own, Anglicizing it and turning it into a brand new verb, "Capulling" - which means protesting, resisting the tear gas and shouting anti-Erdogan slogans.

The word has taken social networks by storm. Facebook users update their statuses: "I'm capulling today" and ask each other "have you capulled?" Banners, signs, handwritten slogans on T-shirts are making an appearance in the square.

Social media users are exchanging links to a music video entitled "Everyday I'm Capulling" and to one of American left-wing writer and philosopher Noam Chomsky sitting in front of a sign reading: "I am also a capulcu" and saying in Turkish: "Everywhere is Taksim, resistance is everywhere."

In the protests in the Turkish capital, Ankara, a woman was walking around with a sign attached to her back: "Thank God we are capulcus," while people distributed stickers in Ankara and Istanbul: "Beware Capulcu."

BURGEONING BARRICADES

Protesters want to make sure the police and their water cannon trucks and tear gas rounds can't reach Taksim Square and its occupied park. What better way to prevent entry than setting up barricades. Lots of barricades.

The barriers range from the elaborate, consisting of battered, smashed up or burned out buses and cars, often now decorated with graffiti, to the simple. Piles upon piles of heavy bricks have been ripped up from sidewalks to form barriers, topped with metal railings, plastic ticket booths, overturned metal dumpsters and pieces of scaffolding taken from building sites.

One street leading from the square down towards the Bosphorus has more than a dozen barriers along its length. Its sidewalks are now just sand paths, as all of their paving stones have been used to construct the barriers. On one recent night, a tourist bus unloaded a group of rather bemused, worried-looking tourists at one of the barricades, as a hotel employee guided them past the side of the barrier to their hotel on Taksim Square.

At night during clashes, protesters stand atop the barriers for a better vantage point, or use them as a rudimentary shield from the flying tear gas canisters shot by riot police. By day, barricades become backdrops for commemorative photos, a good location to pin up artwork, a climbing frame for the more playful, and a location for impromptu soccer games.

CLEAN-UP CREWS

Protesters - in their hundreds during the day, burgeoning into thousands or tens of thousands at night - and clashes with police can generate an awful lot of trash. But those occupying the park and square seem determined to keep the place tidy.

In the cool morning air, volunteers wearing surgical gloves and dragging trash bags behind them scour the park and the square, picking up the detritus of the previous night. Discarded surgical masks used to ward off the worst of the gas, empty plastic water bottles, food wrappers, even cigarette butts are all picked up and stuffed into the bags. The trash is then collected together in an ever increasing pile on the edge of the park.

YOGA IN THE PARK

Some protesters are doing yoga to relax and stay in shape. Earlier this week, the morning open-air yoga class in Gezi Park was a small affair -an instructor leading about a dozen people stretching out on colored yoga mats on a grassy patch in the center of the park.

By Thursday, the classes had swelled to about 80 people, and the instructor resorted to a loudspeaker to make herself heard.

PROTEST HUMOR

The reasons behind Turkey's eight days of protests are serious enough. But demonstrators have also reacted with humor, particularly on social media sites, often lampooning the prime minister and poking fun at his comments.

In response to Erdogan branding those who drink alcohol as "alcoholics," a group of protesters in Ankara on Wednesday night chanted: "The alcoholic movement cannot be stopped."

Turkish users of social media have been sharing and resharing photos of ironic slogans spray-painted onto city walls in Istanbul and Ankara.

"This gas is fantastic my friend!"

"You banned alcohol, the people sobered up!"

"Help, Police! Oh never mind, you must be busy"

"Welcome to the gas festival"

"Tear gas works wonders on your complexion"


Source : Sapa-AP /sdv
Date : 06 Jun 2013 15:49
 
Turkish shares plunged nearly five percent on Thursday after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan dug in his heels anew against a mass protest movement challenging his leadership.

The Istanbul stock market's main index closed 4.7 percent lower after dipping as much as 6.5 percent immediately after Erdogan's comments, ahead of his return to Turkey from a trip to Tunisia.


Source : Sapa-AFP /sdv
Date : 06 Jun 2013 16:59
 
I know it's probably not appropriate but every time I read this thread title I imagine a turkey that has eaten so bad Indian food.

Sad-Turkey.jpg
 
Garyvdh said:
Photos here....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world...44b4e0-ce97-11e2-8573-3baeea6a2647_story.html
Click to expand...

Some more,

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gSsjtyd.jpg


OB-XR877_060313_J_20130603142947.jpg


tumblr_mnvqnh3WbY1qz6f9yo3_500.jpg
 
I hope they overthrow this president trying to impose his islamic doctrine. As for the cops they need to be brought to justice as well.
 
People say there aren't any moderates in the Muslim world or those that claim to be are suspiciously passive but these protests in Turkey and Egypt prove otherwise.
 
His newest statement makes news with the headline "Turkish PM softens rhetoric". It's a small victory, at least.
 
Turkey's prime minister took a combative stance on his closely watched return to the country early Friday, telling supporters who thronged to greet him that the protests that have swept the country must come to an end.

In the first extensive public show of support since anti-government protests erupted last week, more than 10,000 supporters cheered Recep Tayyip Erdogan with rapturous applause outside Istanbul's international airport.

Despite earlier comments that suggested he could be softening his stand, Erdogan delivered a fiery speech on his return from a four-day trip to North Africa. "These protests that are bordering on illegality must come to an end as of now," he said.

Tens of thousands of protesters have held demonstrations that have spread to dozens of cities across Turkey, sparked by the violent police reaction last Friday to what started out as a small protest against a plan to develop Istanbul's central Taksim Square.

Since then, three people have died - two protesters and a policeman - and thousands have been wounded. One protester is on life support in a hospital in Ankara.

Protesters from all walks of life have occupied Taksim Square and its park, objecting to what they say is Erdogan's increasingly autocratic and arrogant manner of governing - charges he vehemently denies.

Erdogan's words were at times almost drowned out by his supporters. "God is Great," they chanted, and soon moved on to slogans referring specifically to the protesters in Taksim Square.

"Let us go, let us smash them," they shouted. "Istanbul is here, where are the looters?"

Erdogan had initially referred to the protesters as looters and troublemakers, while also acknowledging that excessive police force might have been used, and promising it would be investigated.

On his return to Istanbul, Erdogan's speech, delivered from atop an open-air bus outside the airport terminal, appeared at first to be an attempt to strike a unifying note.

"They say I am the prime minister of only 50 percent. It's not true. We have served the whole of the 76 million from the east to the west," he said at the airport, referring to his election win in 2011, when he took 50 percent of the vote.

"Together we are Turkey. Together we are brothers," he said, adding "We have never endeavored to break hearts. We are in favor of mending hearts."

But he soon became more combative.

"We have never been for building tension and polarization. But we cannot applaud brutality," he said.

In his last speech in Tunisia before flying to Istanbul, Erdogan had said that terrorist groups were involved in the protests, saying they had been identified.

In a twist, Erdogan implied that bankers were also part of a conspiracy that was fuelling the protests. He added that the fans of dissent had been fanned by other groups too.

"Those who call themselves journalists, artists, politicians, have, in a very irresponsible way, opened the way for hatred, discrimination and provocation," he said.

Speaking before Erdogan's return, Koray Caliskan, professor of political science and international relations at Bosporus University, pointed out that the prime minister was maintaining a hard line because "until now Erdogan had always gained support by increasing the tension in the country."

"Turkey is absolutely at a crossroads. Erdogan won't be able to point at Turkey as a model of democracy anymore," he said.

In his earlier comments in Tunisia, Erdogan acknowledged that some Turks were involved in the protests out of environmental concerns, and said he had "love and respect" for them.

Turkey's main stock market revealed the fears that Erdogan's comments would do little to defuse the protesters, with the general price index plunging by 8 percent after his comments on concerns that continuing unrest would hit the country's economy.

Over the past week the demonstrations have spread to 78 cities, growing into public venting of what protesters perceive to be Erdogan's increasing arrogance. That includes attempts to impose what many say are restrictive mores on their personal lives, such as how many children to have or whether to drink alcohol.

So far, 4,300 people have been hurt or sought medical attention for the effects of tear gas during the protests, the Turkish Human Rights Foundation said. One person is on life support in Ankara.

Interior Minister Muammer Guler said more than 500 police officers had been injured. A total of 746 protests had erupted, causing some 70 million Turkish Lira ($37 million) in damages, he said. Nearly 80 protesters were still hospitalized, and almost all detained protesters had been released.

----

Fraser reported from Ankara. Ezgi Akin in Ankara contributed.


Source : Sapa-AP /mjs
Date : 07 Jun 2013 03:07
 
Turkey PM Patience 'has limit' after Protest Violence Flares

Turkey's defiant Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told supporters his patience "has a limit" as police fired tear gas and jets of water at demonstrators in unrelenting protests against his government's decade-long rule.

As tens of thousands held noisy demos on Sunday in Istanbul, the capital Ankara and the western city of Izmir, Erdogan went on the offensive, firing up loyalists of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) with rallies of his own across three cities.

"We remained patient, we are still patient but there's a limit to our patience," Erdogan told thousands of cheering AKP supporters in Ankara on a 10th day of unrest.

"Those who do not respect this nation's party in power will pay a price," he added, before ending his final rally with a fireworks display.

His fans relished the show of strength, frequently interrupting his outdoor speeches with bursts of applause and chanting: "Turkey is proud of you".

While Erdogan was speaking, police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse thousands of anti-government protesters in the city's downtown Kizilay square, the second clashes there in two days. At least two people were injured, an AFP photographer saw.

The nationwide unrest first erupted on May 31 with a tough police crackdown on a campaign to save Istanbul's Gezi Park from demolition. The trouble spiralled into a mass outpouring of anger against Erdogan and his party, seen as increasingly authoritarian.

More than 4,000 demonstrators, many of whom are young and middle-class, have been injured and three people have died in the nationwide unrest so far, tarnishing Turkey's image as a model of Islamic democracy.

Earlier on Sunday, Erdogan visited the southern port of Mersin and nearby Adana, urging roaring, flag-waving loyalists to respond to the demonstrators by voting for the AKP in next year's local polls. "I want you to teach them a first lesson through democratic means at the ballot box."

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton meanwhile called for "a quick solution" to the unrest, urging "restraint on all sides".

The government said on Saturday that the protests were "under control", but hours later some of the largest crowds yet packed Istanbul's Taksim Square, the epicentre of the demos, with people peacefully singing and dancing through the night.

Taksim, which has seen no police presence since officers pulled out last weekend, was again teeming with people Sunday, many chanting: "Erdogan, resign!"

"Erdogan was very aggressive today," said 25-year-old student Onur Alptekin as he left the protest square in the evening. "He looks worried. He's like a lion in a corner."

-- 'I salute the young people' --

In a fresh bid to calm the turmoil, the man who ordered the initial police crackdown, the governor of Istanbul Huseyin Avni Mutlu, apologised on Twitter and said he wished he was with the protesters camping out on Taksim Square.

"I salute the young people of this country who chose to sleep on the square under the stars instead of in their warm beds."

Deputy Prime Minister Huseyin Celik on Saturday dismissed any talk of calling early elections to resolve the crisis. "You don't decide on early elections because people are marching on the streets," he told reporters in Istanbul.

Erdogan has faced international condemnation for his handling of the unrest in Turkey, a NATO member and key strategic partner in the region for the United States and other Western allies.

The national doctors' union says the unrest has left two protesters and a policeman dead while almost 4,800 people have been injured across Turkey.

Erdogan added Sunday that over 600 police officers have been hurt in the clashes.

Critics accuse the assertive leader, in power since 2002, of forcing conservative Islamic values on Turkey, a mainly Muslim but staunchly secular nation, and of pushing big urban development projects at the expense of local residents.

Opposition to Turkey's leader is intense, but his AKP party has won three elections in a row, having presided over strong economic growth.

Turkey will hold both local and presidential elections next year. The AKP plans to launch its first campaign rallies in Ankara and Istanbul next weekend. A general election is scheduled for 2015.


Source : Sapa-AFP /mjs
Date : 10 Jun 2013 03:53
 
Turkey's Doctors Association says it has asked authorities to reveal the chemical content of the tear gas that has been fired at protesters.

A human rights group says nearly 5,000 people have sought medical care since the protests began 11 days ago, many for the effects of tear gas.

"We note that those chemical agents have been used intensively in the past two weeks in Turkey," Bayazit Ilhan, the doctors association's secretary-general, told reporters on Monday. "The protesters and doctors have serious concerns about the content of chemicals used and the amount (used)."

Rights groups have accused police of using excessive force on protesters while Turkey's allies have expressed concerns over the number of people who have been hurt.


Source : Sapa-AP /sdv
Date : 10 Jun 2013 16:32 OrigID : LP687821
 
Yeah well Muslims with a plan! there is no such thing as peaceful islam.
 
Hundreds of police in riot gear forced through barricades in Istanbul's central Taksim Square early Tuesday, pushing many of the protesters who had occupied the square for more than a week into a nearby park.

Police briefly fired tear gas canisters and rubber bullets prompting many of the protesters to flee the square into Gezi Park, where many had been camping.

But some groups clashed with police at one edge of the square, firing fireworks, firebombs and stones at police water cannon. Police made frequent announcements through loudspeakers, asking the group to stop attacking police, before firing tear gas.

Earlier, demonstrators had manned the barricades and prepared for a possible intervention when officers began massing in the area.

Police took down large banners that had been hung by protesters on a building on the edge of the square. They replaced them with a large Turkish flag and a banner with a picture of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the beloved founder of the secular republic 89 years ago after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.

Huseyin Avni Mutlu, the governor for Istanbul, said in a message issued on his Twitter account that the police operation was to dismount the banners hung on the building and at a monument on the square. He said people occupying the park at the square would not be touched.

Turkey's most widespread anti-government protests in decades erupted on May 31 after a violent police crackdown on a peaceful sit-in by protesters objecting to a project replacing the park with a replica Ottoman-era barracks.

As police clashed with some activists, bulldozers and garbage trucks began cleaning up some of the barricades on the square. A group of protesters were seen at another corner of the square, apparently trying to negotiate with police.

A statement from Mutlu's office said the banners of various groups taking part in the protests were making the square look as though it was under "occupation" and was "negatively affecting our country's image in the eyes of the world opinion and leading to reaction from within the society."

Before the police action, the protests appeared to be diminishing with the smallest number of demonstrators in the past 12 days gathering in Taksim on Monday night. The protesters occupying Gezi Park had remained, however.

Smaller protests occurred in Ankara too, with about 5,000 people demonstrating. Police there have used water cannon and tear gas to break up demonstrations almost every night.

Three people have died and more than 5,000 have been treated for injuries or the effects of gas during the protests. The government says 600 police officers have also been injured.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had said he would meet with the Gezi Park protesters on Wednesday, following a request by some of the protesters.


Source : Sapa-AP /pk
Date : 11 Jun 2013 09:11
 
Police used water cannon and tear gas Tuesday as they moved into Istanbul's Taksim Square, where two weeks of protests have been held, as some demonstrators threw rocks and Molotov cocktails.

Authorities used construction machinery to clear barricades erected by the protesters around the central square as police entered it for the first time since June 1 after a crackdown on the demonstrations drew international condemnation.

The governor of Istanbul, Huseyin Avni Mutlu, wrote on Twitter that the purpose of the operation was only to remove banners from a monument to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Turkey's first president, and the Ataturk Cultural Centre.

Police would not move into Gezi Park, where thousands of demonstrators have been camped, he said while asking the demonstrators to remain calm and not provoke police.

Banners were removed and a Turkish flag and a picture of Ataturk were hung instead at the cultural centre.

At least two people were hurt in the operation, the Hurriyet newspaper reported.

The protests began over Gezi Park on the edge of the square, where the demonstrators were trying to prevent a development project, but they expanded across the country and developed an anti-government tone as protesters have accused Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of having an authoritarian style of leadership and seeking to impose Islamic values on a secular country.

Three people have been killed in the protests.


Source : Sapa-dpa /pk
Date : 11 Jun 2013 09:45
 
Erdogan to meet with Protestors Next Week.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet this week with protesters who have staged anti-government demonstrations for more than a week, an official said Monday.

It was not immediately clear which members of the protest movement would be invited to meet with Erdogan on Wednesday.

Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc made the announcement after a cabinet meeting Monday. He added that "illegal demonstrations" would no longer be allowed in Turkey.


Source : Sapa-dpa /mv
Date : 10 Jun 2013 20:42
 
Turkey PM vows no more Tolerance

Riot police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to retake an Istanbul protest square on Tuesday as Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned he would show "no more tolerance" for the unrelenting mass demonstrations against his Islamic-rooted government.

Hundreds of police stormed the city's Taksim Square, the epicentre of nearly two weeks of deadly unrest, in the early morning and brought bulldozers to clear the makeshift barriers erected by demonstrators after police pulled out of the area on June 1.

The police action surprised protesters, many of whom were dozing in nearby Gezi Park, because it came just hours after Erdogan agreed to hold talks with protest leaders on Wednesday, his first major concession since the trouble began.

But the premier made no mention of the olive branch Tuesday and resumed his tough stance against the demonstrators who have thrown up the biggest challenge yet to his decade-long rule.

"This episode is now over. We won't show any more tolerance," the premier told lawmakers of his Justice and Development Party (AKP) in a speech broadcast live on television.

Smoke filled Taksim Square as police doused protesters with tear gas and jets of waters and urged them to retreat to the adjoining Gezi Park. Some demonstrators, in helmets and gas masks, responded with molotov cocktails, fireworks and stones.

"Can you believe that? They attack Taksim, gas us in the morning just after proposing talks with us? What kind of leader is that?" said Yulmiz, 23, after waking up to the clashes in his tent in Gezi Park.

"We won't abandon Gezi, they can send thousands of policemen," he vowed. "I am not afraid of their water cannon, it'll be my first shower in three days."

The nationwide unrest first erupted after police cracked down heavily on May 31 on a campaign to save Gezi Park from redevelopment.

The trouble spiralled into mass displays of anger against Erdogan, who is seen as increasingly authoritarian, tarnishing Turkey's image as a model of Islamic democracy.

Erdogan said on Tuesday that four people, including a policeman, had died. The national doctors' union confirmed the death toll had climbed from three to four after a protester succumbed to his injuries but gave no further details. Nearly 5,000 people have been injured.

-- 'We will fight' --

In a speech to lawmakers broadcast live on television, Erdogan urged "sincere" protesters in Gezi Park to pull back, warning that their environmental campaign was being hijacked by "an illegal uprising against the rule of democracy".

After nearly three hours of confrontations, groups of people milled around Taksim Square largely unopposed, chanting and booing, as police guarded key exit points and continued to set off the occasional burst of tear gas.

In a symbolic gesture, police removed flags and anti-Erdogan banners from a nearby building and replaced them with a single Turkish flag and a large portrait of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the father of modern Turkey, whose image has also been adopted by the protesters.

Istanbul governor Huseyin Avni Mutlu sought to justify the police intervention, saying the protesters' takeover of Taksim Square "tarnished the country's image before the eyes of the world".

The police would not interfere with the protesters camping out in Gezi Park, he told reporters.

Tens of thousands at the weekend ignored Erdogan's call to end their demonstrations in cities across Turkey after he warned his patience was running out.

Overnight, trouble flared again in the capital Ankara, where riot police doused hundreds of protesters with tear gas for a third consecutive day.

Opponents accuse Erdogan of repressing critics -- including journalists, minority Kurds and the military -- and of pushing conservative Islamic values on the mainly Muslim but staunchly secular nation.

But the 59-year-old, in power since 2002, remains the country's favourite politician. His AKP has won three elections in a row and took nearly half the vote in the 2011 polls, having presided over strong economic growth.

The premier has urged loyalists to respond to the demonstrators by voting for the AKP in local polls next year.

Turkey will see both local and presidential elections in 2014. The AKP plans to launch its first campaign rallies in Ankara and Istanbul next weekend, expected to bring tens of thousands into the streets.

"We will take to the squares to make the voices of the silent heard," Erdogan said Tuesday.

Turkey, a country of 76 million at the crossroads of East and West, is a key strategic partner in the region for the United States and other Western allies. Many of them have criticised Erdogan's handling of the crisis.


Source : Sapa-AFP /sdv
Date : 11 Jun 2013 14:00
 
"We won't abandon Gezi, they can send thousands of policemen," he vowed. "I am not afraid of their water cannon, it'll be my first shower in three days."
Click to expand...

I lol'd :D
 
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