Israel Matzav

Turkish spring?

Shavua tov, a good week to everyone.

Plans to demolish a city park in Istanbul turned into riots on Friday, with Turkish police reacting in the finest tradition of the Muslim world.

Istanbul residents on Saturday posted photos and videos of bruised and bloodied protesters, of civilians wearing gas masks and surgical masks to protect them from police offensives and of security forces using pressurized water and tear gas to keep them in check. 

The protesters, meanwhile, held up signs denouncing Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his government. “Tayyip is a dictator,” read one sign, while another read “Turkish Spring.” Yet more signs read “Support Gezi Park” or “Occupy Gezi.”

One of the last few green spots left in the center of Istanbul, Gezi Park was once part of the city’s Armenian cemetery. It was confiscated in the 1930s and made into a park. In recent years, Erdogan has expressed his intent to demolish the park, possibly in order to build a mosque there. Earlier this year, he announced that the urban park would be destroyed; on its ruins, a shopping complex and replica of Ottoman-era barracks would be built by a private contractor.

On Friday night, thousands marched from the central, trendy Taksim Square on the European side of Istanbul to Kadikoy on the Asian side, crossing one of the Bosphorus bridges en masse to protest both the demolition of the park and the crackdown on the peaceful sit-in dedicated to saving it.

Some protesters held up photos of the founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, as the crowd cheered them on, while others called Erdogan a “fascist” and warned that “totalitarianism suffocates all.”

If Facebook is any indication, the riots are to become daily occurrences, with over 30,000 people pledging to attend demonstrations until the first of September.

In preparation for a three-month-long series of protests and police retaliations, the demonstrations have been ironically titled the Istanbul Gas Festival, so named after the method used by Istanbul police to disperse them.

Let's go to the videotape.



Read the whole thing.

Maybe the Turks will now wake up and realize that they elected a fascist Prime Minister - three times.

Labels: Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:49 PM