You can see the video of this gun being retrieved. The man holding the gun says "I'm going to return it back." The weapon was found without a clip. It has been delivered to the police by the people. At least nobody was tempted to hold on to the weapon.
German media are now reporting a second "official" casualty, according to turkish channel NTV and provincial authorities a 22 year old man died after being shot by "an unknown person" during a protest in Hatay province.
Yes, an "unknown person" shot him with a firearm... Also another man died in Hatay after getting shot in the head with a gas canister.
Police attacks a passer-by in a relatively calm street. Police asks the people around the leave the area.
You can see people bravely throwing back active gas canisters hereDoctors are trying to help the wounded.Police burned the trees at Beşiktaş with gas. People called asked help from the firefighters, of course they didn't come. Even with all that gas, people put out the fire themselves.
They cover the numbers on their helmets.
Yeah, he is actually a member of AKP. He actually said "We will demolish Anıtkabir (mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk) after the Gezi Park, praise to Allah" on Twitter.
Police is using social media too. They are spreading lies and impersonating protestors with calls to help like "We need help in Gümüşsuyu" and then they are arresting the people who come to help. Civil police also infiltrates protestor groups.
Protestors are using various digital maps; marking intense areas, first aid points, safe buildings, buildings with wi-fi, and focus protest areas.
Police is using helicopters to spray down gas, this was reported from Beşiktaş.
An interesting duo from the protest area.Translation
Right:Lots of interesting things are happening.
Left: Delicious, this one was delicious. They made this one delicious
R: Yeah, they made this one delicious. It got us high. It was a strong one.
L: I congratulate you. I congratulate the police department for this tasty cocktail.
R: *waves* which channel is this?
L: It's Show TV. (one of the most famous TV channels in Turkey)
R: Show TV?
L: Yeah, but this one is spelled with a "Ş"
R: Where is it being broadcasted?
L: It's being broadcasted at nowhere. We are just recording it with our friends together. Oh, and I'm from the police. And I'm arresting you now.
R: No, don't say that.
L: Come with me now.
A makeshift hospital
Translation: Police shot a protestor with a
bullet here
Leandra, don't answer to this if you fear a derail, but about the PKK leader, don't you think some kind of amnesty will be needed if peace is to be negotiated? I can understand this being popular, but it's probably a good thing if it's part of a wider peace proposal.
I would be okay with it if PKK was going to be completely dissolved. If PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan is released, I'm pretty sure he will go back to running things. Also, everyone wants him to be punished for all the soldiers and civilians he killed, and I think it's an understandable demand. There are lots of people who lost their relatives to PKK.
Çarşı sounds like the most awesome football fan club ever. I kindof want to start supporting their team out of solidarity.
This is a really excellent aggregation of English and Turkish news though, thanks for putting it together.
Thanks. They joined lots of protests before this. They are not really just a football fan club anymore. I respect them and I'm the supporter of their rival football club.
OH SHIT
AK-47 in COP car
Police planning on dressing up as rioters and shooting police
Or maybe rioters planting guns to pretend to be police masquerading as rioters shooting the police
Or maybe mossad imitating rioters...
If a protestor planted a gun there, you can be sure that he would be massacred by the mob for spreading lies.
Erdogan is a fanatic, so he's not likely to compromise. If he were a rational actor things wouldn't have gotten to this point. I'll call it now, this is only going to end with him being ousted.
I dunno, he seemed like a pretty decent guy just by running over the Wikipedia pages. Defending atheist rights, economic reforms, investing in education, attempted to solving the Cypriotic problems, ...
Difference between talking and acting, apparently.
29 January 2004: Profiles of Courage Award from the American Jewish Committee, for promoting peace between cultures.[133]
18 April 2004: listed in Time magazine's "100 most influential people in the world" and was called a builder of bridges by the magazine.[134]
13 June 2004: Golden Plate award from the Academy of Achievement during the conference in Chicago.[135]
3 October 2004: German Quadriga prize for improving relationships between different cultures.[136]
1 December 2004: named European of the Year by the weekly European Voice, for having put Turkey on the path to reform.[137]
2 September 2005: Mediterranean Award for Institutions (Italian: Premio Mediterraneo Istituzioni). This was awarded by the Fondazione Mediterraneo.[138]
1 June 2006: Russian state medal from the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.[139]
8 August 2006: Caspian Energy Integration Award from the Caspian Integration Business Club.[140]
1 November 2006: Outstanding Service award from the Turkish humanitarian organization Red Crescent.[141]
2 February 2007: Dialogue Between Cultures Award from the President of Tatarstan Mintimer Shaimiev.[142]
12 March 2007: together with Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero, the 2007 RUMI Peace and Dialogue award.[143]
15 April 2007: Crystal Hermes Award from the German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the opening of the Hannover Industrial Fair.[144]
14 June 2007: Turkish Leader of the Year Award from the mediagroup Imedya.[145]
11 July 2007: highest award of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the Agricola Medal, in recognition of his contribution to agricultural and social development in Turkey.[146]
15 January 2008: together with Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero, the Building Bridges Award from the AMSS(UK), for their efforts to unify communities separated by race, culture and religion, for promoting a climate of respect, and peaceful co-existence through launching the Alliance of Civilizations project.[147]
11 May 2009: Avicenna award from the Avicenna Foundation in Frankfurt, Germany.[148]
9 June 2009: guest of honor at the 20th Crans Montana Forum in Brussels and received the Prix de la Fondation, for democracy and freedom.[149]
25 June 2009: Key to the City of Tirana on the occasion of his state visit to Albania.[150]
26 October 2009: Nishan-e-Pakistan, the highest civilian award in Pakistan.[151]
29 December 2009: Award for Contribution to World Peace from the Turgut Özal Thought and Move Association.[152]
12 January 2010: King Faisal International Prize for "service to Islam" from the King Faisal Foundation.[153]
23 February 2010: Nodo Culture Award from the mayor of Seville for his efforts to launch the Alliance of Civilizations initiative.[154]
1 March 2010: United Nations–HABITAT award in memorial of Rafik Hariri. A seven member international jury unanimously found Erdoğan deserving the award because of his "excellent achievement and commendable conduct in the area of leadership, statesmanship and good governance. Erdoğan also initiated the first roundtable of mayors during the Istanbul conference, which led to a global, organized movement of mayors."[18]
29 April 2010: listed for the second time in Time magazine's "100 most influential people in the world".[155]
17 May 2010: Georgia's Order of Golden Fleece for his contribution to development of bilateral relations.[156]
27 May 2010: medal of honor from the Brazilian Federation of Industry for the State of São Paulo (FIESP) for his contributions to industry[157]
31 May 2010: World Health Organization 2010 World No Tobacco Award for "his dedicated leadership on tobacco control in Turkey."[158]
29 June 2010: 2010 World Family Award from the World Family Organization which operates under the umbrella of the United Nations.[159]
4 November 2010: Golden Medal of Independence, an award conferred upon Kosovo citizens and foreigners that have contributed to the independence of Kosovo.[160]
25 November 2010: "Leader of the Year" award presented by the Union of Arab Banks in Lebanon.[161]
29 November 2010: guest of honor at the 3rd EU-Africa Summit in Libya and Al-Gaddafi International Prize for Human Rights.[162]
11 January 2011: "Outstanding Personality in the Islamic World Award" of the Sheikh Fahad al-Ahmad International Award for Charity in Kuwait.[162]
2 February 2011: Kyrgyzstan's Danaker Order in Bishkek.[163]
25 October 2011: Palestinian International Award for Excellence and Creativity (PIA) 2011 for his support to the Palestinian people and cause.[164]
21 January 2012: ’Gold Statue 2012 Special Award’ by the Polish Business Center Club (BCC), which is considered the most prestigious award in Poland. Erdoğan was awarded for his systematic effort to clear barriers on the way to economic growth, striving to build democracy and free market relations[165]
If I'd have to make a guess, I'd say he's megalomaniacal. Or maniacal.
People like this tend to have more ambition, more sympathy, and are better in inspiring people. However when things go against them, well...
He didn't invest in education. He invested in Islamic school where children are brainwashed and forced to memorize Qur'an passages. He turns normal schools into Islamic schools. He gives academic advantages to people who graduated from Islamic schools.
He didn't defend the rights of atheists. If he did,
the mob who murdered 37 Alevis and atheists would be punished for it, not walking free. He is anti-atheist and anti-Alevi.
He is a fanatic, and he needs to be stopped. His Sharia agenda will turn Turkey into a hellhole if not. People are chanting "Fuck Erdoğan" for a reason. We don't want rigged elections anymore. We are talking about someone who said "They are spreading lies on social media and Twitter. [We] should hang these people on the trees there"
The most outspoken critics of Tayyip were Islamists [last I knew]. You know, ousting the extremists in the military so they don't coup back to Islamic Republic status. So this line of conversation is all a bit confusing to me.
Actually it's the complete opposite. The military has traditionally been the strongest advocate of secularism in Turkey. They are mostly Kemalists, followers of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who founded modern Turkey and modelled it after western states, especially France. In the past, when the military believed the government strayed away from kemalist values, they staged coups. Not to promote Islamism, but secularism.
While Turkey has a very secular constitution, huge parts of the population are still religious. Initially, when AKP was formed, it was welcomed as a democratic way to balance strong secularism and moderate Islam. However since they are the strongest party, they have become more and more conservative and are now pushing the country too much into a religious direction for the taste of many.
Just as a note, but with 327 out of 550 seats, the AKP has a majority in parliament.
Also interesting of note, of all parties, the AKP has the most female parliament members (Percentage and total)
Which makes their relative paucity of genuine support all the more concerning, I would think. 39%/49% of the vote (local/national) hardly seems like it should entail getting 60% of the government. And this is with the government essentially buying and coercing votes.
Not that this particular quirk, where groups end up running countries despite the majority of the population being opposed to them, is somehow limited to Turkey. The vote-buying is obviously a bit more of a concern.
This is actually pretty normal in countries without a 2 party system (I think Turkey has over 70) and not necessarily something to be concerned about. You very rarely get governments with absolute majority. Vote-buying, if it exists, is something else.
This is true. Army never wanted fundamental Islam here. That's why Erdoğan is throwing lots of generals into prisons.
I don't know much about USA politics but there are lots of political parties here. There are strong parties representing the voice of nationalists, Islamists, communists, kemalists, Kurds, etc. The most popular third party got %13 of the votes. Also AKP always resorts to vote-buying in every election.
How are the Kurds responding to the protests, out of curiosity?
They are joining the protests. Some are making PKK propaganda, some are genuinely believing in the cause.
I have to leave for school. I have 2 exams today. I'll keep posting and responding after I come back.