Protests in Turkey

The13thMonkey · Jun 12, 2013

I came across this article on one Croatian news portal accompanied by some video footage which says that the police arrested 50 layers who tried to express their support for the protesters. Is that true?

http://www.jutarnji.hr/video--policija-upala-na-sud-i-privela-50-odvjetnika-tukli-ih-i-priveli-jer-su-stali-na-stranu-prosvjednika-na-trgu-taksim-/1108220/

Why were they arrested? On what grounds? I can understand the riot police combating protesters on the streets (although the brutality with which they do so is another matter), but how can the police barge into a courtroom and arrest people who had done nothing illegal?
What's going on there?

waltky · Jun 16, 2013

And the beat goes on, and the beat goes on...

Turkey unrest goes on despite end to park protest
June 16, 2013 — Riot police cordoned off streets, set up roadblocks and fired tear gas and water cannon to prevent anti-government protesters from converging on Ista

Kranes56 · Jun 16, 2013

The13thMonkey said: ↑

I came across this article on one Croatian news portal accompanied by some video footage which says that the police arrested 50 layers who tried to express their support for the protesters. Is that true?

http://www.jutarnji.hr/video--policija-upala-na-sud-i-privela-50-odvjetnika-tukli-ih-i-priveli-jer-su-stali-na-stranu-prosvjednika-na-trgu-taksim-/1108220/

Why were they arrested? On what grounds? I can understand the riot police combating protesters on the streets (although the brutality with which they do so is another matter), but how can the police barge into a courtroom and arrest people who had done nothing illegal?
What's going on there?
Click to expand...

Apparently the government is conservative, and the city based liberals don't like what's happening. So rioting it is. The arrests, not really surprising. It might be a democracy, but a more authoritative one.

- - - Updated - - -

The13thMonkey said: ↑

I came across this article on one Croatian news portal accompanied by some video footage which says that the police arrested 50 layers who tried to express their support for the protesters. Is that true?

http://www.jutarnji.hr/video--policija-upala-na-sud-i-privela-50-odvjetnika-tukli-ih-i-priveli-jer-su-stali-na-stranu-prosvjednika-na-trgu-taksim-/1108220/

Why were they arrested? On what grounds? I can understand the riot police combating protesters on the streets (although the brutality with which they do so is another matter), but how can the police barge into a courtroom and arrest people who had done nothing illegal?
What's going on there?
Click to expand...

Apparently the government is conservative, and the city based liberals don't like what's happening. So rioting it is. The arrests, not really surprising. It might be a democracy, but a more authoritative one.

waltky · Jun 16, 2013

And the beat goes on, and the beat goes on...

No clear result after Turkish PM, protesters meet
June 14, 2013 — A meeting between Turkey's prime minister and representatives of anti-government protesters ended early Friday without a clear resolution on how to end the occupation of a central Istanbul park that has become a flashpoint for the largest political crisis of his 10-year rule.

The talks between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erogan and the protesters were an effort to resolve a sit-in at Taksim Square's Gezi Park without resorting to a police intervention to clear out the demonstrators. Erdogan on Thursday told the protesters he was giving them a "final warning" to leave the park. Although the late-night talks ended on what both sides indicated was a positive note, the possibility remained that protesters would refuse to leave and the police would be sent in to clear them out. A violent police crackdown on May 31 against a small environmental protest aiming to prevent a development project at the park sparked protests that spread to dozens of cities across Turkey. Since then, hundreds and often thousands of people have set up camp in the park.

The demonstrations have morphed into a broader protest against what many say is the prime minister's increasingly authoritarian style and his perceived attempts to impose his religious and conservative views on a country with secular laws — charges Erdogan strongly rejects. Nationwide, five people, including a police officer, have died and more than 5,000 protesters and 600 police have been reported injured in clashes. Speaking after the overnight meeting, Huseyin Celik, spokesman for Erdogan's Justice and Development Party, said construction work at the park would be frozen until a pending court decision is issued on whether the work is legal. A referendum could be held on the future of Gezi Park after that, he said.

Representatives from Taksim Solidarity, a group that has been organizing much of the activity in the Gezi occupation, said they had been promised the construction at the park would be frozen, and said they would take the meeting's conclusions back to the protesters later Friday. It was unclear what the response would be. Although Taksim Solidarity has emerged as the most high-profile group in the occupation, it does not speak for everyone camping in the park. Many say they have no affiliation to any group or party. The prime minister has maintained a hard line against the demonstrations, angrily denouncing the protesters as looters and vandals. He has said the unrest was instigated by a variety of interests, including foreign media and interest rate lobbies intent on destroying Turkey's international reputation and halting its economic growth.

As Erdogan held talks in the capital, Ankara, Istanbul's governor hosted a meeting through the night with any protesters who cared to join him at a cafe near Taksim Square — vowing to consult with them "until the morning if necessary" on finding a solution to the sit-in. "I hope this meeting will be a message to youngsters from different ages in Gezi Park ... we are trying to end this issue without (police) having to intervene," Huseyin Avni Mutlu told reporters on the way in.

- See more at: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/no-...rkish-pm-protesters-meet#sthash.hloYU2xW.dpuf
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Turkey unrest goes on despite end to park protest
June 16, 2013 — Riot police cordoned off streets, set up roadblocks and fired tear gas and water cannon to prevent anti-government protesters from converging on Istanbul's central Taksim Square on Sunday, unbowed even as Turkey's prime minister addressed hundreds of thousands of supporters a few kilometers away.

The contrasting scenes pointed to an increasing polarization in Turkish society — one which critics say Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has fueled with the fiery rhetoric he has maintained since they began more than two weeks ago. A police crackdown Saturday evening that ended an 18-day peaceful sit-in at Taksim Square's Gezi Park sparked daylong unrest on the streets of Istanbul, while police also broke up demonstrations in the capital, Ankara, and the southern city of Adana.

The protests began in Gezi Park more than two weeks ago and spread to dozens of cities across the country. Erdogan has blamed them on a nebulous plot to destabilize his government. Five people, including a policeman, have died and more than 5,000 have been injured, according to a Turkish rights group. Elected to his third term just two years ago with 50 percent of the vote and having steered his country to healthy economic growth, the protests are unlikely to prove an immediate threat to Erdogan's government. But they have dented his international image and exposed growing divisions within Turkish society. Never before in his 10-year tenure has Erdogan faced such an open or broad expression of discontent.

Protesters take cover from a water cannon during clashes with riot police at a demonstration in Ankara on June 16, 2013. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan rallied tens of thousands of his supporters in Istanbul today, hours after ordering a crackdown on anti-government protesters in a city park and sending tensions soaring in two weeks of unrest.

Critics have accused him of an increasingly autocratic way of governing and of trying to impose his conservative Muslim views on the lifestyles of the entire population in a country governed by secular laws — charges he vehemently denies. "They say, 'Mr. prime minister, you are too harsh,' and some (call me) 'dictator'," he said during his speech in his second political rally in as many days. "What kind of a dictator meets with people who occupy Gezi Park as well as the sincere environmentalists?" he questioned, referring to a meeting Thursday night with protest representatives.

Erdogan defended his decision to send police in to end the occupation of the park, where protesters had set up a tent city complete with a library, food distribution center, infirmary, children's activity area and plant nursery. Water cannon and tear gas forced thousands to flee, and cleanup crews ripped down the tents and food overnight. "I did my duty as prime minister," he told his supporters. "Otherwise there would be no point in my being in office."

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waltky · Jun 18, 2013

Turkish unions declare one-day strike in support of protesters...

Unions give lift to Turkish protest movement
Jun 17,`13 -- Turkish labor groups fanned a wave of defiance against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's authority, leading rallies and a one-day strike to support activists whose two-week standoff with the government has shaken the country's secular democracy.

Riot police again deployed in Turkey's two main cities, and authorities kept up their unyielding stance against the street demonstrations centering on Istanbul's Taksim Square. But Monday's police sweep was less forceful than in recent days, with only scattered firing of tear gas and water cannon on pockets of protesters. After activists were ousted from their sit-in in adjacent Gezi Park over the weekend, two labor confederations that represent some 330,000 workers picked up the slack Monday by calling a strike and demonstrations nationwide. Unionists turned up by the thousands in Ankara, Istanbul, coastal Izmir and elsewhere.

The turnout defied Turkey's interior minister, Muammer Guler, who warned that anyone taking part in unlawful demonstrations would "bear the legal consequences." But one analyst called the rallies a "legitimate and a lawful expression of constitutional rights." "People are raising their voices against the excessive use of police force," said Koray Caliskan, a political science professor at Istanbul's Bosphorus University. Demonstrators, he said, were showing they were no longer cowed by authorities, and "the fear threshold has been broken." In a sign that authorities were increasingly impatient, Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc floated the prospect that authorities could call in troops to quash the protests.

People shout anti-government slogans during a rally by the labor unions in Istanbul, Turkey, Monday, June 17, 2013. A day earlier, riot police cordoned off streets, set up roadblocks and fired tear gas and water cannons to prevent anti-government protesters from an effort to return to Taksim Square in Istanbul. Labor unions and political foes of Prime Minister Recep Erdogan rallied Monday by the thousands across Turkey, hoping to capitalize on weeks of protest that began as small-scale activism and parlay it into a chance to register broader discontent.

Erdogan's opponents have grown increasingly suspicious about what they call a gradual erosion of freedoms and secular values under his Islamic-rooted ruling party. It has passed new curbs on alcohol and tried, but later abandoned its plans, to limit women's access to abortion. The government set off protests nationwide and drew criticism abroad over a police crackdown that began May 31 against environmentalists and other activists in Taksim Square who were protesting against plans to tear down trees and re-develop Gezi Park. Thousands have flooded the streets nightly since then, many honking car horns and waving Turkish flags.

Erdogan, who has held power for 10 years and was re-elected in 2011, mobilized his supporters over the weekend in two huge rallies - insisting his duty was to keep order, railing against media coverage of the protests and lashing out at unspecified foreigners whom he said want to hurt Turkey. TV images Monday showed crowds of government supporters in Istanbul facing down some protesters and chanting "the hands targeting the police should be broken." On Twitter, a trending topic urged protesters to stay home - some expressing concern that pro-government mobs might attack them.

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Turkish government says it may use army to end protests
17 June 2013 > Turkey's government has said it could use the military to end nearly three weeks of unrest by protesters in Istanbul and other cities.

Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc told A Haber TV that the state would use "all its powers" and the armed forces if necessary to "establish peace". It is the first time the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party has raised the prospect of deploying troops. Later, Mr Arinc complained that his comments had been taken out of context. On Sunday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told hundreds of thousands of supporters at a rally in Istanbul that the protesters had been manipulated by "terrorists".

Anti-government protests continued in Istanbul and Ankara on Sunday night

Trade unions have called a strike to protest against the police crackdown on demonstrators which has seen some 500 people arrested. Medical officials estimate that 5,000 people have been injured and at least four killed in the unrest. The protests began on 28 May against a plan to redevelop Istanbul's Gezi Park, on the city's central Taksim Square, but it snowballed into nationwide anti-government protests after the perceived high-handed response of the authorities under their three-term prime minister.

Gendarmes

In an interview with A Haber, a Turkish news channel, Mr Arinc insisted that "the innocent demonstrations that began 20 days ago" had "completely ended". Any further demonstrations would be "immediately suppressed", he added. "Our police, our security forces are doing their jobs," he said. "If it's not enough then the gendarmes will do their jobs. If that's not enough... we could even use elements of the Turkish armed forces." The deployment of gendarmes - a military unit under control of the interior ministry in peacetime - shocked some protesters in Istanbul this weekend.

Mr Arinc later wrote to the BBC to complain that the TV interview had been "taken out of context" and "created the misperception that the Turkish government might use its army and all its forces to suppress the protests". "The AK Party would never consider declaring a state of emergency or anything similar," he added. "The powers that we are entitled with are sufficient to settle such events. "When a societal event breaks out in a region, our governors are responsible for restoring order and security. In such a case, they deploy firstly police forces, then gendarmeries. If the incidents become widespread, armed forces might be also called on the governor's order to establish peace."

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Protests in Turkey

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