When you don't know, have a bowl of ice cream.
Posted on 06/03/2013 12:04:58 AM PDT by Nextrush
Turkish protestors have clashed with police in Istanbul overnight, in some of the worst violence since unrest erupted three days ago.
Protesters in Beskitas district tore up paving stones to build barricades, and police responded with tear gas and water cannon.
The violence was sparked by plans to build on a city park but have broadened into nationwide anti-government unrest.
Protesters say the Turkish government is becoming increasingly authoritarian.
They fear Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) is trying to impose conservative Islamic values on the officially secular country and infringe on their personal freedoms. correspondents say.
Officials say more than 1,700 people have been arrested in demonstrations in 67 towns and cities, though many have since been released.
Late on Sunday, the White House said in a statement that all parties should "calm the situation" and reaffirmed that peaceful demonstrations were "part of democratic expression."
The US previously criticized the security forces for their initial response to the protest.
Roads sealed off
Mosques, shops and a university in Besiktas were turned into makeshift hospitals for those injured in Sunday night's demonstration.
The BBC's Louise Greenwood in Istanbul says several thousand people took part in the protest outside the recently decommissioned Besiktas football stadium.
She says some of the protesters were coughing violently and vomiting after police fired gas canisters into the crowd.
According to the Turkish Doctors' Association, 484 protesters have been treated in hospitals in Istanbul since Friday.
Nearby, police were also battling to protect the prime minister's office which has become another focal point for the protesters.....
Unrest was also reported in the capital, Ankara, and the western coastal city of Izmir in the west, as well as Adana in the south and Gaziantep in the southeast....
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
A REVOLT AGAINST ISLAMISM.......
Three talking points not being discussed by the MSM surrounding this story.
1. THIS IS A REVOLT AGAINST AN ELECTED ISLAMIC 'MODERATE' MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD TYPE GOVERNMENT THAT HAS A CLOSE FRIEND NAMED PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA
2. THIS IS A REVOLT AGAINST A GOVERNMENT THAT IS SUPPORTING THE REVOLT AGAINST ASSAD IN SYRIA
3. THIS IS A REVOLT AGAINST A GOVERNMENT THAT SUPPORTS HAMAS IN GAZA AND THE PALESTINIANS IN GENERAL AGAINST ISRAEL
Exactly right. So, where is the media reporting on this? (Crickets chirping)
Turkey will beat down the revolt with the help of the islamist in the WH.
Deus ex machina?
You may be right about that, but I still think Obama is a leftist who wants to hijack Islam and make it subservient to a left-wing agenda.
Obama is clearly best buddies with the Islamic regieme in Turkey who are his allies in dealing with Syria. This Erdogan guy has been agitating for the Palestinians against Israel as well.
But others aren’t happy with that like Iran and Russia.
Are their hands in this situation?????
...which side are we routing for here?
Uh...OK, I don't know which one that might be. Neither?
That’s a good one to ask.....
I see Erdogan as strongly anti-Israel as my talking points note and he is also an Islamist in slow motion.
A Brookings Institution wonk who is a Turk says there is no alternative to Erdogan, who is popular and would win an election if it were held today.
I don’t know if there is any side to root for here, but the talking points in Post #1 stand up as my “position” on the situation for now....
So right now, we have A Mosque set on fire, and a mass march against islam in the UK. We have angry Buddhists (let THAT sink in for a moment) attacking moslems in Burma for setting a woman on fire. We have Turks revolting aganist the islamism in Turkey. We have Israel announcing that the Palestinians had no intent to ever negotiate in good faith and that Israel is returning to building more west bank settlements.
I think there was always a limit to the tolerance they would be shown unless they knocked off their crap. The moslems have overplayed their hand, and the backlash is starting.
The politicians had better fall into line, or risk the same anger being directed at them.
~~~Exactly right. So, where is the media reporting on this?~~~
The MSM went from covering for their once-beloved Obama, and ignoring stories, to now being afraid their telephones are tapped and their emails sifted through.
Pretty much. Expect him to send them some F-16’s or something soon.
Putin is likely to be behind this. The abundance of red banners with hammer and sickles confirms it to me.
Neither side.
I wonder if McCain will go and meet with some of the “freedom fighters”?
I’ll wait to see which side Obama really roots for and go against him. It’s the only way to be certain.
Israeli-Turkish trade is up lots. Not certain how much that affects the debate but it’s a fact and worthy of inclusion.
Erdogan has badly over reached and is now whining about how he is not appreciated. He hasn't long to go before he has to resign.
When you don't know, have a bowl of ice cream.
So every U.S. newscast will be leading with the “Turkish Spring,” right?
Are those not Turkish flags?
Hammer and sicles everywhere. Obama is a muslim when he wants to be, but he's a communist at heart. Which way Obama? . . And he's the President of our United States. Thanks LoFo's. .
I see what you’re saying. You’re probably right.
“Experience in Egypt and Gaza shows that Brotherhood rule is destructive to democracy and indigenous to Christians.”
“…Erdogan maneuvers to install an Islamist regime in Damascus.”
“…Erdogan brazenly sounded a defiant note when, answering a reporter, he said he would visit Hamas-ruled Gaza in June.
This visit will contravene US and European Union policy because Hamas is a terrorist group whose stated aim is to annihilate Israel.”
Better Red than Mo-ham-ed....
Because communist regimes always collapse under their own weight...
a turk, are you still around here? It would be wonderful to hear from someone who really knows what’s going on.
We know that Erdogan got the military sufficiently infiltrated that he was able to jail the generals who had the courage and stature to intervene as required by the Constitution when Islamists take over, but I don’t know a whole lot more than that.
Thanks in advance.
Ping. A revolt against Islamism in Damascus. But the protesters appear to be largely of the communist party.
There’s potential trouble in Malaysia, too - the government has been trying to implement “creeping Islamism” for a while and the non-Muslim population is sick of it. Malaysia is like Turkey in that it has a highly-educated, Westernized elite who have no desire to live under Sharia law - and it has the advantage that it has largely retained the British system of courts and law from its colonial days. Islam could be on the verge of taking a major smack in the snout in two relatively wealthy countries. St. Barack can’t be happy with these developments.
CNBC actually reported on it with some accuracy.
The communists are likely orchestrating it. Their goal is bring further instability to the region. Turkey is a powerful NATO ally and if the regime falls to a Chavez it would be good for business...
Turkish Police shoots unarmed protestor then celebrates!
http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-981250
As an FYI, these protests are being organized by the CHP (Cumhuriyet Halk Partesi), the party initially established by Kemal and Inonu. It is a leftist party that is somewhat the equivalent to Labour in the UK or the SDP in Germany.
They aren’t the friends of conservatives (that would be the ANAP party), but they are also not friends of the communists (they joined NATO and allowed a lot of US presence in that country all through the cold war)
Most important, they are very much so not Islamists.
Interesting point. But ohh the suffering. .
The leftists are spinning it as an anti-corporate green revolt and are lamenting that Americans are too complacent to rise up against the corporate anti-gaia power structure.
I heard the protests in Turkey are about some trees in a park...like how Benghazi was about some inflammatory movie. /sarc
Cumhuriet Halk Partesi translates into Republic People’s Party. Seems to me every country that has the word People in its title tends to be socialistic in nature
Actually this story is about a week old. The Euros, Deutsche Welle, as well as Al Jazeera English have covered it pretty well. Since this story version the number of towns with anti gov’t protests has passed 90. And the park conversion part of the story is more serious than implied in most stories-—seems the folks caught dirty hands taking money to get zoning for a commercial mall where a local park is supposed to be and the Istanbuls don’t have very many parks already. If Erdogan doesn’t “snap to” it’s clear that Turkey is going to have its own “spring”. Especially if the Turkops keep gassing the peaceful protesters. Remember how well that worked out for the Egypts. And the Turks aren’t exactly un-armed. The PKK hasn’t gotten around to turning in all its firepower yet for example.
Maybe I can help? Erdogan deserves a US bat right between the eyes. We owe him at least one good swat. Remember he’s the guy who, right after being elected, wouldn’t let us use his southern railroad to supply our troops in northern Irag. So Rumsfeld turned the ships around and sent them thru the Suez to get to Kuwait. That cost us a huge amount of fuel and time. Since Turkey is NATO Bush should have protested but he didn’t ( another one of my problems with Bush). He’s also the guy who was bent on busting the Israelis quarantine of Gaza. While it seems there is no particular group protesting in Turkey, just a bunch of PO’D people, I’m with anybody who can give Erdogan a bloody nose. He’s a certified Islamicdickhead.
That’s just about right and while Turkey is still mostly Mooslim the population is pretty doggone westernized and they are not a bunch of Islamo-Caliphatist ragheads. Remember they have been exposed to far more western influence than the rest of Asia Minor. From WW II until 1975 we had five military bases there and our guys spread around a lot of Coke and Bluejeans. Now we just have the NATO base at Incirlik but that still represents a lot of western influence and a whole lot of Turks don’t mind having flush terlets. They realize there is a better way of doing business and living than fighting a goat for space in a tent.
This protest drives a wedge between the Left and Islamists.
They are both enemies of Israel and Barack Obama is committed to bringing them together.
The problem with this movement is that most Turks want a more Islamist government.
So protestors cannot really base themselves on being for “democracy” as it is usually defined. Another election will probably give the President a larger majority.
In the Muslim world, democracy (in the sense of free elections) is in direct conflict with freedom for the individual. And we are so focused on the notion that democracy = freedom that nobody wants to address how to deal with the very real conflict.
The CHP Party is definitely involved in these protests.
That’s worth noting.
Its not all a bunch of communists, but in this situation they show up to help out and bring their street rioting expertise with scarves and Maalox to spray as an anti-gas irritant, barricade building etc.
Islamist Erdogan is a friend of Obama, he was at the WH two weeks ago being ‘hailed by the chief”.
I’ve been reading that Erdogan has been making subtle provocative jesters beyond the graft and curbing civil liberties. Renaming a bridge for a sultan of the Ottoman Empire and plans to reconstruct a historic Ottoman barracks to commemorate the caliphate.
Erdogan is an agitator like Obama, it’s probably why they get on so well.
Where’s Betzelem with the creative camera work? Oh. They don’t do real oppression by a real tyranny. Could get hurt.
Correct that. I meant to type "Istanbul", but I had Damascus on my mind.
That is my thought, also.
I haven’t had a pony in this race since the Byzantine Empire went kaput.
I’ll hafta change my summer travel plans and go to Constantinople instead!
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