A group of AKP loyalists came to the Atatürk Airport to welcome Erdoğan. The crowd was around 600-700 people and there was no women, only men. AKP politicians said stuff like "They wanted to come, we couldn't stop them from welcoming the prime minister. It was a surprise to us too."
This is a giant lie.
I'm not going to translate everything. This is basically AKP politicians sending messages to people, begging and forcing them to come to the airport for the "Word Leader, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan"
The loyalists were picked up by busses and gathered around the airport. They even prepared fireworks and a good sound system. Erdoğan also read a prepared paper there, with Ministry of Environment and City Planning, Erdoğan Bayraktar, holding a flashlight to his paper.
The group dispersed after throwing slogans like "Tell us to die, and we will die!" and "Give us the road and we will crush Taksim" I was going to say that they were brainwashed, but I'm not sure if they got a brain.
"We would die for democratic demands". They should at least change their words a little.
A Starbucks store had to close shop after protestors spread the word about how they closed their doors to protestors. Boycott worked so well, they are hardly getting any customers now. Some Starbucks stores started helping the protestors after this but their reputation is very ruined right now. A similar thing happened to Kızılkayalar, a similar company famous for their hamburgers, they got the same treatment after one of their workers chased a protestors with a machete. Most of their stores are closed now.
Thanks for answering my questions Leatra. I've got a few more if it's not too much trouble:
A) You mentioned a SWAT team protesting, or something along those lines. What's going on there?
B) How violent have the protestors been? How have they kept the police out of the park?
C) There was also mention of the deputy leader, what about him? Has he spoken out or anything of the sort?
D) When I was talking about the region I meant about the countries close to you that may be suffering the same thing. Do you think they might have protests or something of the sort?
E) Who's supplying your Internet? Is it likely to get cut off?
F) How well are those makeshift gas masks working? Have you needed one or gotten caught in a cloud?
G) How are your friends/family holding up?
Again, sorry for all the questions.
You're welcome. Don't worry, I'm here to answer questions.
A) That SWAT team thing was a joke about protestors stealing police equipment and forming a shield wall. Nothing serious.
B) They basically stood still and the police gave up after some time. Some protestors are throwing rocks at the police. There are people vandalizing too but they usually get booed by the protestors if they attempt to do this. People who attempt to burn flags get stopped too. Protestors also help the bystanders with anti-tear solutions and gas masks.
C) The deputy leader was more lax with the protestors, criticizing the police for excessive use of gas bombs. Some people suspect this is just a good cop/bad cop being played here. He looks genuinely scared and anxious nowadays though.
D) Greece is giving a lot of support. Pretty much every country is helping but I have seen the most support from Germany and Greece.
E) Türk Telekom is the largest internet provider. I don't think they are going to cut it off. They wouldn't dare.
F) I never wore one. Even in places where their is no gas canisters around, my nose was still burning. I can't even guess what would happen if I got caught in a cloud. Most people just wear a piece of cloth around their mouth. There are people with military grade gas masks too. I think makeshift gas masks are working well because they have been gaining popularity.
G) Most of my friends are joining the protests from time to time. Even my most apolitical friends have started joining the protests. Some acquaintances of mine have been wounded in the protests. My family is mostly just digging up information about what's going on and not actively joining the protests.
How does the whole over-turning the government thing look? Because it seems like the guy is the picture in the dictionary next to "uncompromising".
People will probably keep protesting until AKP resigns but like you said, it doesn't look like it's gonna happen anytime soon.
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Topic: Arab Spring springs to Turkey (Read 43901 times)