The police successfully emptied the park, on the strength of this violent intervention, which came quite swiftly after Prime Minister Erdogan warned, forebodingly, that his security forces “know how to clear” the areas.
No party in Turkey represents me. Maybe one will come out of this.Birkan Isin, founding member of Taksim Gezi Park Protection and Beautification Association • Discussing why he and thousands of other protesters have occupied Istanbul’s Taksim Square for the last five days. The occupation of Taksim Square began after an earlier demonstration, of public opposition to a planned redevelopment of a local park, was met with tear gas and violence by local police. Though they’ve assembled in support of a myriad of causes, leading some to wonder how long #OccupyTaksim can last, many of those currently taking residence in Taksim Square have cited the violent response to the association’s original protest as inspiration for their attendance. source
Journalists filing in Istanbul — via.
Some reports about the protests in Turkey suggest that 1,700 people have been arrested since the protests began. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan blamed the protests, which started as a protest against a redevelopment plan at a park but escalated into a wide anti-government protest, on influence from opposition parties.
The use of violence by police on this scale appears designed to deny the right to peaceful protest altogether and to discourage others from taking part. The use of tear gas against peaceful protestors and in confined spaces where it may constitute a serious danger to health is unacceptable, breaches international human rights standards and must be stopped immediately. The Turkish authorities must order police to halt any excessive use of force and urgently investigate all reports of abuse. They have a duty to ensure that people can exercise their right to free expression and assembly.John Dalhuisen, the Director of Europe and Central Asia Programme for Amnesty International • Delivering Amnesty International’s take on the violent and chaotic scenes that have played out in Turkey over the last two days, with authorities under the control of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in violent clashes with anti-government protesters. Erdogan himself has decried the protests, denouncing them as undemocratic, “wild extremists,” while conceding that police may have engage in “excessive” force. source
Background (via Circa): A protest that started after developers began removing trees in Istanbul’s Gezi Park has developed into a wider anti-government protest, which has been violently countered by the police. By May 31, over 100 people had been injured, including tourists. Protests also occurred in Turkey’s capital, Ankara.
Vital resources for following the protests in Turkey, in the midst of a second tumultuous day. Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan has not ceded any authority, rhetorically or otherwise: “Every four years we hold elections and this nation makes its choice. Those who have a problem with government’s policies can express their opinions within the framework of law and democracy.”
In Turkey, thousands of protesters clash with riot police for second day in fiercest anti-government demonstrations for years.
This is a surge of protest unique against the backdrop of the ”Arab Spring” uprisings of recent years — Turkey’s democratic functions are more robust than could have been said of Mubarak’s Egypt or Gaddafi’s Libya, to be sure, but the police clashes, arrests and hard pushback from the government of Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as such things often do, have given way to a violent discord within the nation.
tiptoelightlypastmymind asks: Do you know if any of the main television networks in the US have picked up on Turkey yet? I honestly had no clue until another post crossed my tumblr dashboard this morning... which makes me wonder if the general public is still pretty clueless as to what's going on.
» SFB says: While I haven’t tapped into a TV today (I don’t watch TV on the regular), it’s a fairly sizable story, and one of CNN’s main online feeds is currently dedicated to the situation in Turkey. — Ernie @ SFB
Background (via Circa): A protest that started after developers began removing trees in Istanbul’s Gezi Park has developed into a wider anti-government protest, which has been violently countered by the police. By May 31, over 100 people had been injured, including tourists. Protests also occurred in Turkey’s capital, Ankara. (soupsoup)
We’ll be keeping an eye on this.
Secretary of State John Kerry is making an emergency surprise trip to the Middle East this weekend amid worries that the Obama administration’s newly brokered friendship between Turkey and Israel risks unraveling, U.S. and Israeli media report.
The administration is concerned about Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s plans to visit the Hamas-controlled Gaza strip, a move certain to raise tensions in the volatile region. Erdoğan’s announcement risks undermining the major diplomatic coup the White House claimed last month when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Erdoğan to apologize for a 2010 Israeli raid that killed eight Turks and one Turkish-American on a Gaza-bound flotilla.
Erdoğan’s plans were met with disapproval by the State Department, which reiterated its opposition to negotiating with Hamas. The United States considers Hamas a terrorist group. The department declined to confirm or deny the reports of Kerry’s travel plans.
Secretary Kerry is expected to fly to Turkey on Saturday, and will also visit Israel and the West Bank this weekend before kicking off a string of previously planned trips to London, South Korea, China, and Japan next week.
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Jailed Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan ordered his fighters on Thursday to cease fire and withdraw from Turkish soil as a step to ending a conflict that has killed 40,000 people, riven the country and battered its economy.
Hundreds of thousands of Kurds, gathered in the regional center of Diyarbakir, cheered and waved banners bearing Ocalan’s mustachioed image when a letter from the rebel leader, held since 1999 on a prison island in the Marmara Sea, was read out by a pro-Kurdish politician.
“Let guns be silenced and politics dominate,” he said to a sea of red-yellow-green Kurdish flags. “The stage has been reached where our armed forces should withdraw beyond the borders … It’s not the end. It’s the start of a new era.”
As is the case with any sizeable guerilla army, there is some concern that word of the cease fire either won’t reach or won’t be accepted by some of Ocalan’s former fighters. Still, a call for political discourse from the man who’s inspired people to take up arms against Turkey for decades is certainly a good sign for the future.
Turkish far-left group claims responsibility for US Embassy attack
(Photo: SITE Intelligence Group via AFP - Getty Images)
The Turkish far-left group DHKP-C claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack on the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, according to a statement on a website linked to the group, news agencies reported.
“Our action is for the independence of our country, which has become a new slave of America,” the statement reportedly said.
You may be familiar with bullfighting, but have you heard of camel fighting? This endeavor drew huge crowds in Selcuk, Turkey on Sunday. Pretty crazy, right? Above is the raw video, via AP.
(Source: youtube.com)
Photo of the day: Oktai Enimehmedov, right, at the moment he jumped on the stage and pointed a gas pistol at Ahmed Dogan, the head of the Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms, a minority party in Bulgaria. No shots were fired, because Dogan fought back, and people in the crowd struck Enimehmedov to the ground. He was later arrested. The incident took place at an event in Burgas, Bulgaria on Saturday. (photo by BTV/AFP/Getty Images)
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