More
than 1000 people have been injured in several days of protests in
Istanbul against Turkey’s Islamist regime, involving more than 90
demonstrations, the biggest anti-Islamist protest in a decade. Hundreds
more were hurt in conflicts with police in Ankara, the capital. The
demonstration began as an environmental protest about the destruction of
a famous Istanbul park but had spread to Ankara, too.
The
movement began in Taksim Square, Istanbul’s most famous. The police
responded toughly using tear gas and pepper spray. Some compared this to
the Arab Spring demonstrations elsewhere in the Middle East though this
idea seems exaggerated.
Gradually
the Justice and Development Party of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan been working to transform Turkey into something much closer to
an Islamist state. Hundreds of political prisoners have been jailed on
trumped-up charges of planned coups; the army has been forced to submit;
a new constitution is being developed; and the independent judiciary is
under assault by the government.
Much
of the mass media has been bought up or intimidated along with
educational system changes, the declining status of women, and rising
effort to reduce the sale of alcohol. Turkey has more journalists in
jail than any other country in the world.
It
all began when a small group of young people camped at a park in
central Istanbul to protest Erdogan’s personal plan to build a shopping
center on the site. Police raided the park just before sunrise, using
tear gas, evicted the protesters, and removed their tents. Up to this
point it was a normal response.
A
few days later, about 30 young people returned and set up the tents
again and the police once more launched a raid. This time, however, a
great deal of force was used, including pepper spray. Tear gas was
squirted into the faces of some young people, kicking and beating them,
then burning the tents.
In
response, thousands of people gathered around the square and park. The
police attacked with water cannon mounted on vehicles in a major
escalation. They attacked protesters, chasing them into side streets in
downtown Istanbul past the many hotels and stores in the area. Those who
tried non-violent sit-ins were beaten, including two members of
parliament.
Protests
spread all over Turkey, with participants counted in the tens of
thousands. The issue now was the growing repression by the Islamist
regime. Large areas were filled with pepper spray, tear gas, and the
water cannons firing several times a minute. Many apartment buildings
were deluged in gas.
Little
or no provocation was offered by the crowd. Demonstrators charged that
police undercover agents entered the protest areas, threw stones, and
then went back behind the police lines.
Oppositionists
were especially outraged by the use of ambulances driving down streets
to clear the crowds. Another tactic was to set tents ablaze and then
claim the demonstrators had started the fires.
The
political implications of the protests are not clear. They are probably
unlikely to shake the determination of the government. "We do not have a
government, we have Tayyip Erdogan," political scientist and protester
Koray Caliskan told the Reuters news agency.
Erdogan
is very arrogant, has a strong base of support, and enjoys the full
support of the Obama Administration. The Turkish economy is generally
considered to be strong. Erdogan will have to decide whether to slow
down the Islamization process—he has been clever at being patient—or
perhaps will, on the contrary, speed it up claiming his regime is facing
sabotage.
You can see photos here.
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