Free Republic

For years, Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Erdogan was generally considered an example of “moderate Islamism”, a loose label that was generally based on a comparison with other Islamist dictatorships, like Iran, or with the various semi-secular autocratic regimes that dot the Arab and Muslim world. There was never a comparison with a liberal Muslim democracy, simply because none existed. In other words, Erdogan earned his credential as the moderate, Islamist democrat in the Middle East, partly because of his success in Turkey, but also due to the lack of any democratic competitors. Admittedly, it was not just the west that...

(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...

Something shocking happened on Saturday night during the uprisings against Erdogan’s AKP rule in Turkey. CNN’s local news provider, called CNN-Turk, aired a documentary on penguins during the climax of the protests. Turkish people have been suffering a lack of press freedom for a while; however, this has reached to a ridiculous point in the last few days. There is a phenomenal difference between how CNN international and CNN-Turk cover the protests and the Turkish people are furious, feel mocked and betrayed, and they rightfully demand CNN international to take action. On Saturday night, people who turned on their televisions...

1. Turkey's political ideology Since the 1920s Turkey has been vigorously secular in its public sphere. Now protestors accuse Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of blurring the line between religion and state by trying to impose the Islamist values of his Justice and Development party (AKP) on society as a whole. Last month the government introduced a new law cracking down on alcohol, banning the sale of drink between 10pm and 6am and forcing restaurants near schools or mosques to be dry. The government has also tried to clamp down on kissing in public. Some have also perceived a state...

[more background info on events in turkey; read the article at WSJ.Com, with the link provided]

"In the aftermath of the Arab Spring, Turkey was often seen as the model for a democracy in the Muslim world. The economic policies of the current government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Islamic Fundamentalist party AKP have been praised widely in the West, just last week again by star-economist Jeffrey Sachs. So, where is the uprising coming from? To understand what is happening in Turkey, it makes sense to look at neighbouring Iran. In some ways, Iran could be seen as the prototype of the current regime in Turkey.".....

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...

Turkey has entered a second day of violent protests, with fresh clashes between police and demonstrators in Istanbul and the capital, Ankara. The unrest began as a sit-in over plans to redevelop Gezi Park in Istanbul's Taksim Square, but escalated after police used tear gas. Tear gas was again fired Saturday at protestors in Istanbul and Ankara. In a defiant speech, PM Tayyip Erdogan insisted that the park project would go ahead. He also said that police would remain in Taksim Square to preserve order. Correspondents say that what began as a local issue has spiralled into more widespead anger...

Hundreds of protestors have returned to the streets of Istanbul and Ankara after two days of unrest that have seen more than 1,700 arrests. Largely peaceful protesters waved flags in Istanbul's Taksim Square but there were reports that police had fired tear gas in Kizilay Square. PM Tayyip Erdogan said protestors were trying to undermine democracy. The protests began over redeveloping a park near Taksim Square but broadened into anti-government unrest...... Correspondents say many people are fed up with the government which they believe is becoming increasingly authoritarian and trying to take away some of their personal freedoms.

Police in the Turkish city of Istanbul have pulled out of Taksim square, where the largest anti-government protests in years are taking place. Thousands of people are gathered in the square after days of violence sparked by plans to redevelop a nearby park. Police have fired tear gas and water cannon several times to break up the riots, and rioters have thrown rocks at police. Turkey's President Abdullah Gul has called for “common sense” to prevail, admitting that the Taksim square protests had reached a “worrisome level”. He called on all sides to be "mature", urging police to "act in...

ISTANBUL — Police officers attacked a group of peaceful demonstrators on Friday in Istanbul’s Taksim Square with water cannons and tear gas, sending scores of people, protesters and tourists alike, scurrying into shops and luxury hotels and turning the center of this city into a battle zone at the height of tourist season.

Israel -- and by extention, the West -- owes the Syrian dictator, BIG time. But why is Obama ignoring his lessons? (snip) ... Homeland Security Minister Gilad Erdan has been warning repeatedly that it is certain that Israeli population centers will be hit by Syrian ballistic missiles ... (snip) ... the second danger is that the weapons in Syria will proliferate far and wide. US officials have already admitted that they have lost track of much of Syria's chemical weapons arsenal. (snip) The party most responsible for the barbarous, protracted Syrian civil war that will almost certainly drag Israel into...

Within hours of the Boston Marathon blasts, government officials and Muslims in Boston called each other to offer assistance. These calls were the fruits of years of cultivating such relationships in an effort to ultimately prevent the very type of attack Boston experienced April 15. But the calls following the explosions were not about the unfolding investigation. Representatives from the departments of Justice and Homeland Security offered support to Muslim communities in case they suffered backlash or threats,

The Islamist government of Turkey is building a 15-acre, $100 million mega-mosque in Lanham, Maryland. Prime Minister Erdogan visited the site on May 15 in a ceremony that was attended by the leaders of two groups linked to the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood. Also present was the Maryland Secretary of State, representing Maryland Governor and likely Democratic presidential candidate in 2016, Martin O’Malley. The mega-mosque is called the Turkish American Culture and Civilization Center and, according to the Muslim Link, it “will likely become the largest and most striking examples of Islamic architecture in the western hemisphere” when it is finished...

On May 15th, the Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and two leaders linked to the Muslim Brotherhood visited Lanham, Maryland to celebrate the future opening of a $100,000,000 mega-mosque. The project is being funded by the Islamic government of Turkey. Erdogan has seen his share of controversy. In February, he stated that Zionism is a "crime against humanity." In June 1997, he stated, "The Jews have begun to crush the Muslims of Palestine, in the name of Zionism. Today, the image of the Jews is no different from that of the Nazis." The Muslim Brotherhood and their connection to antisemitism...

TEL AVIV, Israel, May 17 (UPI) -- Nobel Energy of Houston, which discovered Israel's big natural gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean, is pressing the government to decide on an energy export policy as the prospect of an undersea pipeline to Turkey gains credibility. Israel's deep-water Tamar field, found in 2009 and containing an estimated 9 trillion-10 trillion cubic feet of gas, began production March 31. But Nobel and Israeli partner Delek Energy, the team that discovered Tamar and other fields off Israel, is reluctant to develop the much bigger Leviathan field, found in 2010, until it the government makes...

Might as well, I guess.

Campaigners urged President Obama to raise press freedom concerns with visiting Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan Thursday, but the only media freedom issue raised during their joint press conference was much closer to home—the secret seizure of Associated Press phone records. Under Erdogan’s Islamist-leaning Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, press freedom has deteriorated sharply. In its annual international assessment of press freedom, media watchdog Reporters Without Borders this year ranks Turkey 154th out of 179 countries, and calls it “currently the world’s biggest prison for journalists.” On the eve of Erdogan’s visit, Reporters Without Borders head Christophe Deloire...

Barack Obama loves the troops… To hold his umbrella. POTUS deploys Marines for rain in Rose Garden with Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan. (Major Garrett)

Turkey’s prime minister vowed Sunday his country won’t be drawn into Syria’s civil war, despite twin car bombings the government believes were carried out by a group of Turks with close ties to pro-government groups in Syria. The bombings left 46 people dead and marked the biggest incident of violence across the border since the start of Syria’s bloody civil war, raising fears of Turkey being pulled deeper into a conflict that threatens to destabilize the region. Syria has rejected allegations it was behind the attacks. But Turkish authorities said Sunday they had detained nine Turkish citizens with links to...