Posted on 06/08/2013 9:03:35 AM PDT by Fitzy_888
(CNN) - It's a congested, sprawling transport hub surrounded by 1950s architecture and predominantly used by commuters or tourists to cross the city of Istanbul.
But proposed changes to Taksim Square have seen it become the flashpoint for protests that have swept through Turkey in the past week, leaving thousands injured and focusing the world's attention on the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Taksim has been no stranger to violence. In 1977, at least 34 protesters died during May Day clashes with police. May 1 rallies in the square were banned in 1980 and were only allowed to legally resume in 2010. On May Day this year, there were riots after city authorities again refused to grant trade unions and youth groups permission to demonstrate in Taksim, blaming construction work being carried out in the square.
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(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Good article. Turkey is very important to us, as it’s been, for decades, a model of democratic government in the Islamic world.
I was there in 1993. I’ve been to 22 countries, and this was my favorite. Went at Christmas with a Jewish friend. Istanbul had more Christmas decorations up than my small leftist politically correct community in WA state. Istanbul was and probably still mostly is an urbane, sophisticated city. We saw about three women in burqas, the rest wore pretty much what you’d see in a not-wealthy American city, though maybe 1/3 of the women did wear head scarves to cover their hair.
I am blonde and female, went around the country in jeans and a blue leather jacket, friend could not have been more obviously Jewish. We were welcomed with real warmth everywhere, even in small towns that were much more conservative than Istanbul. I had one meeting with a Turkish woman dressed in pretty traditional Turkish garb and head scarf...we couldn’t communicate with words, but we liked each other immediately and burst out laughing at our differences, which were so extremely superficial.
The election of Erdogan was a horrible mistake. The peasantry in eastern Turkey apparently voted with one Islamic voice, no doubt spurred on by teachers in madrassas funded by Saudi fundamentalists who have been very busy erecting these centers of treachery and deceit.
Turkey is our chance to effect people in the Middle East in a positive way, but I’m not seeing anything remotely like decent policy toward that country from our State Dept under Bush or Obama. If we lose Turkey as a bastion of democratic thought in the region, we are total idiots. The smart people there love their freedom. But the Islamists can somehow talk them into slavery-—just because they keep talking. What are WE saying to them?
I’ve read multiple articles theorizing Erdogan is the anti-Christ.
Who knows...but I believe IT will be a muslime who displays a deep hatred of Christians, Jews, America & Israel.
I’m Shery’s daughter. We lived in Turkey for 6 years when I was growing up. I loved it there. Turkey, however, is deeply divided between radical populations further to the east and more secularized people in the western part of the country. Erdogan had the support of the more Islamist part of the country that is eager for Turkey to become a major player in the Muslim world. This is also Erdogan’s desire. I feel for the more Westernized populations of Turkey because they truly want democracy. They have even held marches in support of their smaller Christian segment of the population, a few years ago when a few Turkish pastors were brutally murdered for being Christians. And there have been marches for animal rights - something we never would have seen when I was living there. What we hear of most in the West is Turkey’s moderate or more secular segments of society, but Turkey has its fair share of Islamists. We don’t hear much about it in our media, but girls are still murdered in honour killings there, hands are still cut of for stealing, people are arrested, held and beaten before they are charged with anything, and some women are still stoned for being raped. And it has been that way all along. Istanbul is not typical of the rest of the nation. But, if Turks will unite and not back down, insist on truly democratic change - which it seems more and more of its people want - then Turkey could be a bastion of hope to its neighboring Muslim nations who also have a few democracy lovers in their midst.
I haven't seen that. IMO, the real evil is coming from deeper inside the Wahabi sect that dominates Saudi and is spreading all over the Muslim world -- on OUR oil dollars.
Hi Shery’s daughter...how wonderful to have spent six years in Turkey. I appreciate the details you supplied about the religious/political situation. Turkey could, as you say, become a major player in the Muslim world, but with less prejudiced and larger goals, they could become a major player in the world at large.
Marches for animal rights sounds both surprising and promising. Hopefully the secularists will continue to gather strength and keep the nation from going under.
Taksim has been no stranger to violence. In 1977, at least 34 protesters died during May Day clashes with police. May 1 rallies in the square were banned in 1980 and were only allowed to legally resume in 2010. On May Day this year, there were riots after city authorities again refused to grant trade unions and youth groups permission to demonstrate in Taksim, blaming construction work being carried out in the square.These are the "anti-Islamist" "secularists" protesters we've been hearing so much about. Be careful what you wish for.
What’s driving unrest and protests in Turkey?
By Jethro Mullen and Susannah Cullinane, CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/03/world/europe/turkey-conflict-explainer
[snip] Gezi Park sits in Istanbul’s main commercial district and is the last green space in the city center... authorities announced they want to raze the park and put in its place a replica of 19th Century Ottoman barracks — containing a shopping mall... Mayor Kadir Topbas emphasized the park demolition was not related to the shopping mall project, but was a part of a wider renovation project of Taksim Square... many of the demonstrators say their anger is no longer directed against the proposed government plan. In Istanbul, the crowds have been chanting “Tayyip resign” — referring to Erdogan — and “shoulder to shoulder against fascism.” On Tuesday, the KESK confederation of public sector workers — representing 240,000 members — called a two-day strike to protest what it called the “facism” of Erdogan’s governing party. [/snip]
Amnesty Int’l, Greenpeace, and Catherine Ashton (who apparently could find no way to blame this on Jews) condemned the alleged excessive use of force. I’m sure they were in the vanguard, criticizing Iran’s mullahcracy when it gunned down dozens of protestors, or condemned Assad for killing 90,000 and counting — in exactly the same terms, basically equating the events.
However, these Westernized and cosmopolitan people are following the same course as most Westernized people everywhere: limiting their families to one or two children. For years they have been outbred by the peasantry in eastern Turkey. Now they are being outvoted by those same peasants. Yes, the election of the AK Party has been and will be a disaster for Turkey, especially for the Westernized Turks. I feel sorry for my friends there. They and their children really have no future in Turkey. Some of those children have already come to the US as immigrants.
Oh, the dichotomy between “Veto 1” and “Shery”....what to think?
Shery, are you looking to babysit? (=> Or, not!)
Thanks all!
So sad. Sounds like things have really deteriorated since 1993 when I was there. It was such a hopeful place then. My friends in Rome wanted to retire to Turkey, started paperwork years ago because it takes that long. I was looking forward to long visits on the Bosporus.
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