Gezi Park set for religious ceremony, Quran reading
As the 9th day of Gezi Park demonstrations coincided with the Lailat al–Mi’raj, protestors decided to mark this religious event through several activities.
Over 4,000 injured, two dead in Turkey’s nationwide protests: Association
Over 4,100 people have been wounded and two people.
Turkish group demand police chiefs’ sacking
Newly formed movement of protesters meets with deputy prime minister to demand senior officials be dismissed and a halt to use of tear gas
Ankara police start public diplomacy campaign for night break to protests
The Ankara police changed its intervention in protests June 4 following the messages of restraint..
Anonymous hacks Turkish PM website: claim
The global hacking collective Anonymous hacked the Turkish Prime Ministry’s webpage today..
Protesters are young, libertarian and furious at Turkish PM, says survey
A majority of the Taksim Gezi Park protesters do not feel close to any political party and have.
Neither Turkish spring nor velvet revolution
A media that does not function as a check on the government will not be able to survive in the coming days and people will definitely question business relations between the media and the government.
When Turkish food and protests collide
Care for a side of red hot chili peppers and ironic social commentary with your protests? The photo that went viral this week of a policeman pepper-spraying a young woman in a red dress in Istanbul inspired a response from an unlikely place: the food section, Fork & Cork, of the Hurriyet Daily News.
Occupy Istanbul? Turkish Spring? The Turkish protest name game
It’s hard to believe it all started over a park.
With tens of thousands of Turkish citizens laying claim to the streets of Istanbul and several other major cities,
Reforming Turkish democracy
PM Erdoğan’s inflammatory policies point to the pitfalls of majoritarian style democracy in Turkey.
The anti-government protests last weekend demonstrate that a move to a more consensus model of government is needed to avoid conflict in the country.
In majoritarian democracies decisions are determined by a simplemajority/plurality of voters while in consensus democracies by ‘as many people as possible’. Both options claim to foster moderation and effective decision-making either by privileging single-governing parties as in Turkey or by encouraging wider consensus and cohabitation in government of competing political forces as post-election coalition partners.
Turkish protests test Obama’s close friendship with Erdogan
World leaders don’t always have the liberty of choosing their allies, but they do get to pick their friends. And while Barack Obama has been criticized for hisVulcan-style diplomacy, the U.S. president has made a few buddies in office.
Erdogan backers pour scorn on protesters
The Turkish town of Cankiri, with seven voters out of 10 being faithful to the ruling party AKP, shows prime minister still commands popular support
Contesting neoliberal-Islamic authoritarianism in Turkey
Two years ago a sociologist at Stanford published a study which found that, concurrent with the widening division of wealth in the U.S., the standardized testing gap between high-income and low-income students had grown 40% to 50% since the 1960s. Since the education gap between blacks and whites is a common theme in left literature, it is worth noting then that the achievement gap by income is now nearly twice as large. Setting aside the moral questions raised by such a discrepancy, it merits serious consideration from a policy standpoint given the negative impact it has on the national economy. A McKinsey report published in 2009 showed that closing the income achievement gap from 1983 to 1998 would have increased GDP in 2008 from $400 billion to $670 billion.
Erdogan Style
“openDemocracy” focuses on the eruption of protest in Turkey; “New Humanist” slams multiculturalists for their complacency while “Soundings” sees multiculturalism flourish in Britain; “Blätter” suggests that the winners should be made to pay; “Osteuropa” discerns in Orbán and Putin the negation of 1989; “Springerin” shines a spotlight on the affinity of art and process; “Merkur” is amused by the rise and foreseeable fall of International Art English; “Dziejaslou” travels to Sweden; and “Letras Libres” talks to a fuming and culturally conservative Marc Fumaroli about money and culture.
What’s happening in Turkey? | Occupy Gezi
Text of the crowd-funded statement on Turkey’s protests that appeared in a full-page ad in today’s New York Times
Millions of Turkish citizens have been outraged by the violent reaction of their government to a peaceful protest aimed at saving Istanbul’s Gezi Park.
Taksim protest to change Ankara balances
There are two aspects of possible changes in the political balances that are likely to be triggered.
From Tahrir to Occupy to Istanbul: An Anatomy of Current and Future …
By Brian Merchant ()
Neither Occupy Wall Street nor the gathering in Tahrir nor, certainly, Mohamed Bouazizi’s self-immolation in Tunisia nor the upheaval in Istanbul were pre-organized to be major events. A small group of proto-Occupiers strategized some in
Police Attacks As Thousands Bid Adieu
Thousands of people bid adieu to Abdullah Cömert, a Gezi Park resistance demonstrator who was killed in Hatay Resistance. Following the ceremony, police attacked the funeral crowd with pepper gas.
AKP is losing international reputation it built since 2002
It would perhaps be too much to compare ongoing popular uprising in Turkey with the Arab Spring movement.
When Gezi incidents coincide with global fluctuation
Financial markets in Turkey began the week with a historic fall. It would be a mistake to conclude that
It is all about Erdoğan
Last Sunday, while Istanbul was being shaken by clashes between unarmed protestors and tear-gas-trigger-happy police..
The Battle of Taksim and beyond
All in all, it looks like Prime Minister Erdoğan’s ambition to raise sin-free, all sober and devout generations..
Supporters send food to park online
Turkey’s leading food ordering chain, received more than 1,000 orders to be delivered to Gezi Park
What inspires Turkey’s protest movement?
Elected government has delivered strong economic growth but activists think conservative leaders have a hidden agenda.
What Did the Gezi Uprisings Mean?
I wrote a piece for CNN about Turkey’s uprisings. You can find it here.
So what are the issues?
Invasion of privacy: Just as pious Turks once were incensed by restrictions on Islamic expression and wearing of headscarves in certain public places and on other personal expressions of piety, Turks today are enraged by government intrusions into their private lives, what they should wear, what they should drink, and what they should do with their bodies (for instance, government urging that women should have three children and stay at home, and fiats restricting abortions and Caesarian section) and the increasing arrogance of AKP supporters in demanding that only their norms be represented in society (confronting men and women kissing in public or strolling in a park together).
Turkey seeks to reassure investors over protests
LONDON (Reuters) – Turkey’s president and the country’s international trade group sought to reassure foreign investors that the days of violent anti-government protests should not scare away multinational firms. Turkey’s location as a gateway between Asia and Europe and its young, skilled, talent pool have attracted a growing number of multinationals to place their regional headquarters there
Turkey’s Erdogan: Successful leader or ‘dictator’?
He’s perhaps the most powerful and popular politician Turkey has seen in generations. But Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan may also be the most polarizing.
Turkish Tears
Turks have many reasons to take to the streets, and the anger and resentment that is fueling the country’s ongoing protests has many sources. Secularists are speaking out against Islamists. Leftists are bucking conservatives. Middle-class Turks are rallying against the relentless development of central Istanbul. Many young people simply want to save the trees in Gezi Park, the small green space where the protests began last week. And the majority of protesters are just happy to be raising their voice against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the ruling Justice and Development Party.
Turkish FM responds to Kerry for US criticisms on protests in Turkey
The Turkish Foreign Minister has reproached his U.S. counterpart over four different statements.
Turkey’s deputy PM Bülent Arinç meets protesters – video
A sixth day of tension between police and protesters is under way in Istanbul
Kayseri is a religiously conservative city which votes overwhelmingly for the ruling party, AKP. Here’s a protest in Kayseri.:
Inside the People’s Republic of Taksim
The protesters occupying the heart of the great city know they will have to go at some point but until then it is theirs
Tweeting Turks sidestep mainstream media
PM calls social media “the worst menace to society” as Turks organise protests and break news stories using Twitter.
‘Woman in red’ sprayed with teargas becomes symbol of Turkey protests
Images of a smartly dressed woman being sprayed with teargas by a riot policeman during protests in Istanbul’s Taksim Square have been shared on social media around the world
Istanbul’s police chief had said his forces would only use teargas as a last resort. But the images seem to show the officer targeting an unarmed woman.
Erdogan Has Been Warned
Turkey’s prime minister should heed the message of protesters and critics within his own party: don’t overreach and listen to the voices of all citizens.
It Takes a Quiz Show Host: #Occupygezi and Culture Jamming aganist CensorshipTurkey
I’ve written about the abject failure of Turkish media to adequately cover the news of the most important protests in the country since the 1980 coup. Many media outlets aired irrelevant documentaries and talk shows (talk show about legal definitions of theft, cooking shows, dolphin training, etc) while clashes spread to dozens of provinces and many neighborhoods in many major cities.
Turkish PM Erdoğan did not meet King Mohammad VI during Morocco visit
King Mohammad VI of Morocco did not receive Turkish PM Erdoğan June 3, according to the Moroccan media.
Turkish crackdown on protesters ‘wrong and unjust’, says deputy PM
Bulent Arinç, standing in for absent prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, offers to meet protest’s leaders in bid to ease tensions
Turkey’s deputy prime minister has offered a partial apology for the vicious police crackdown on protesters in Istanbul, in an apparent attempt to cool tensions after nine days of anti-government rallies across Turkey.
Publishing houses to unite in Gezi Park to distribute major resistance material: Books
One of the major acts of resistance for protesters occupying Gezi Park was to read a good book. A library has now been created with the support of publishing houses.
White House welcomes Turkish deputy PM’s apology for excessive force
The White House on June 4 welcomed Arınç’s comments over Gezi Park protests
Fear and loathing grips Turkey as anti-Erdogan protests gather pace
The thousands gathering spontaneously in Taksim Square do not have an ideology. What they share is a sense of grievance
Beneath the trees of Istanbul’s Gezi park, a group of students was debating the tumultuous events of the past six days. Their unprecedented protest against Turkey’s prime minister, Tayyip Erdogan, wasn’t exactly a revolution, they agreed. So what was it: an awakening, a renaissance or a citizen’s revolt?
Gezi Park protests similar to Occupy movement, not Middle East uprisings: President Gül
The protests sparked by outrage over the demolition of a park in Istanbul recall the Occupy protests in the West, says Abdullah Gül.
Erdogan still a hero to some, in spite of violent protests
A stone’s throw from Taksim Square in the poor district of Kasimpasa, people still sing the prime minister’s praises
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister, might be looking rattled following days of protests demanding his resignation. But at Kardesler Berber, a small barber shop in the conservative neighbourhood of Kasimpasa, Hayri Göz is having none of it.
“This is not about a Park” by Ayşe Ezgi Gürcan
By Ayşe Ezgi Gürcan (Political Science, PhD, Istanbul – Turkey)
In the 8th day of the occupation, the Park has already turned into a small campsite with its make-shift infirmarie
Taksim, 3 clichés et Baden Baden …pardon Rabat.
J’ai choisi trois clichés sur le site d’Erkan Saka pour illustrer ces journées de protestations en Turquie. Celle-ci est pour ceux qui ont du mal (ou ne veulent pas) imaginer ce qu’arroser de gaz lacrymogène signifie.
“Some implications of the Gezi protests” by Dr. Mark Meirowitz
Dr. Mark Meirowitz (SUNY Maritime College, New York, USA)
1. The reaction of the Turkish Diaspora is very significant. The Turkish Diaspora has been key to Turkey’s ability to pursue its interests around the world, especially in the US. Now the Turkish Diaspora appears to have actively mobilized in public
Turkish PM receives honorary doctorate in Algeria for ‘contributions to humanity’
Turkish PM Erdoğan, who faces mass protests in Turkey, an honorary doctorate from the University of Algiers as a reward for his ‘contributions to humanity.
Muslims and Models
Not two weeks ago I was at a conference in Istanbul where the philosopher Seyla Benhabib mentioned the growing public disaffection with plans to give over Gezi Park to yet another project for private profit. Her prescient invocation of this issue was made in the context of a discussion about the “Arab Spring” as a victory for Islamists, and the possible success of a “Turkish model” for their new regimes. I pointed out that one of the problems of such a discussion had to do with the idea of modularity, which has become a category of neoliberal thinking that brings Western “experts” together with their Islamist subjects in an ironic if telling unity. By the same logic we can now claim Egypt as a model for Turkey in a circular and meaningless cycle of comparisons.
Turkey, from Tahrir to Taksim
Kerem Oktem explains why the occupation of Gezi Park in Istanbul’s Taksim Square quickly turned into an enormous eruption of protest; the key factors being an increasingly uninhibited neoliberal development process, the government’s growing conservative zeal and a troubled foreign policy.
The Symbolic War at the Heart of the Gezi Park Protests
This is a fight about trees – or so it seemed at the end of last week. The protests first came to the attention of the world through this image. Before journalists had cobbled together their copy, or before their editors had decided that events warranted any, Reuters photographer Osman Orsal’s photo of policemen firing pepper spray at close range in the face of a young girl acted as a widely-shared placeholder for the torrent of analysis that was to follow.
VIDEO: Timeline: How Turkish protests unfolded
Key milestones of anti-government protests in Turkey that first erupted last week over the plans to redevelop a park in Istanbul.
Related posts:
#OccupyTurkey the 8th Day. Deputy PM Arınç apologizes to injured protesters in passing but mostly supports PM’s arguments. A huge roundup:
Citizens continue to resist here in Taksim and elsewheres in the 5th day. More images from a civic uprising #OccupyTurkey
Reading is good as the Police attacks Taksim park protesters #occupygezi
Boing Boing, Mashable all support #OccupyTurkey, Wikipedia Entry, White House petition #DirenGeziParki
#OccupyTurkey Accessing Twitter in Istanbul seems to be impossible at the moment. Here is another roundup:
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