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 ...
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!
I’ll hafta change my summer travel plans and go to Constantinople instead!...................................Try Byzantium, I hear its a nice quiet place.
THE White House sounds like Kevin Bacon in “Animal House” - “KEEP CALM”, and with just as much success.
Thought you’d appretiate this ...sent to me in E-mail today.....
Muslim Heritage..may A-ss!
Obama, during his Cairo speech, said:
“I know, too, that Islam has always been a part of America’s History.”
AN AMERICAN CITIZEN’S RESPONSE:.....
....Have you ever seen a Muslim hospital?
....Have you heard a Muslim orchestra?
....Have you seen a Muslim band march in a parade?
....Have you witnessed a Muslim charity?
....Have you shaken hands with a Muslim Girl Scout?
....Have you seen a Muslim Candy Stripe?
The answer is no, you have not. Just ask yourself WHY ???
AN AMERICAN CITIZEN’S RESPONSE.....
Dear Mr. Obama,
Were those Muslims that were in America when the Pilgrims first landed?
Were those Muslims that celebrated the first Thanksgiving day?
Sorry ... those were Pilgrims and Native American Indians.
Can you show me one Muslim signature on the:
United States Constitution?
Declaration of Independence ?
Bill of Rights?
Didn’t think so.
Did Muslims fight for this country’s freedom from England ?
Did Muslims fight during the Civil War to free the slaves in America ?...
No, they did not.
In fact,.... Muslims to this day are still the largest traffickers in human slavery.
Your own half-brother, a devout Muslim, still advocates slavery himself,....even though Muslims of Arabic descent refer to black Muslims as “pug nosed slaves.”
Says a lot of what the Muslim world REALLY thinks of YOUR family’s “rich Islamic heritage,” doesn’t it Mr. Obama?
Where were Muslims during the Civil Rights era of this country?......Not present....
....There are no pictures or media accounts of Muslims walking side by side with Martin Luther King, Jr. or helping to advance the cause of Civil Rights.
Where were Muslims during this country’s
Woman’s Suffrage era?...Again, not present.
In fact,... devout Muslims demand that women are subservient to men in the Islamic culture.
So much so, that often they are beaten for not wearing the ‘hajib’... or for talking to a man who is not a direct family member or their husband...Yep, the Muslims are all for women’s rights, aren’t they?
Where were Muslims during World War II?...They were aligned with Adolf Hitler.
The Muslim grand mufti himself met with Adolf Hitler, reviewed his troops and accepted support from the Nazi’s in killing Jews.
Finally, Mr. Obama, where were Muslims on Sept. 11th, 2001?
If they weren’t flying planes into the World Trade Center , the Pentagon...Or a field in Pennsylvania killing nearly 3,000 people on our own soil,.....they were rejoicing in the Middle East....
...No one can dispute the pictures shown from all parts of the Mid-East World celebrating on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and other cable news network’s that day.
Strangely, the very “moderate” Muslims who’s as*es you bent over backwards to kiss in Cairo, Egypt on June 4th were stone cold silent post 9-11.
To many Americans, their silence has meant approval for the acts of that day.
And THAT, Mr. Obama, is the “rich heritage” Muslims have here in America ...
Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot to mention the Barbary Pirates.
They were Muslims.
And now we can add November 5, 2009 - the slaughter of American soldiers at Fort Hood by a Muslim major who is a doctor and a psychiatrist who was supposed to be counseling soldiers returning from battle in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Also, don’t forget the Boston Marathon bombing on April 15.2013 was done by 2 Muslim Brothers.
And Bengazhi in 2012 — just before your reelection.
That, Mr. Obama is the “Muslim Heritage” in America
As far as I am concerned, the only contribution muslims ever made to the US was the inspiration for the Marine Hymn.
I AM ROTFLOL....oh my gosh! That was sooooo good and true! I needed to laugh like this!!!!
Neither side. The turks are living in a self delusion a fantasy world they have created to avoid facing justice for the blood of 4 million Christians they slaughtered and have yet to deal with.
>>>>Putin is likely to be behind this. The abundance of red banners with hammer and sickles confirms it to me.<<<<
LOL. It is not a hummer and a sickle but a secular Turkish symbols. Erdogan blames KGB for protests but it is nothing but lies. People are simply fed up with quran and veiled women there.
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