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[Haspen]

A rural population backing a party that has strong religious ties inside a democracy, I wonder where I've seen that political situation before.

In every democratic country, at least once?

[Leatra]

Posting from an internet cafe atm. I'm away from İstanbul and internet and the only information I have is from the rare independent non-ass-licking Turkish media. Erdoğan gathered with some artists 2 days earlier to discuss the issue. I'm pretty sure the protestors won't give a shit about what comes out of these discussions until a representive group joins the discussions, not some random actors and musicians who are likely to compromise.

So... Turkey has a pretty long history of secular governance, right? Since 1920 or so?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kemalist_ideology

Why is it regressing into theocracy now?

In the good ol' days, Erdoğan came off as a humble religious man trying to uphold the unpopular idea of Islamism. He was seen as "people's leader" of some sorts. He turned into this after 10 years of power. I watched some old videos of him speaking about various issues and he pretty much always contradicts with what he is now. He talked about how building the 3. bridge will destroy enviroment etc and now he is trying to demolish a park.

Democracy is like a tool for dictators now. Erdoğan said so himself, "Democracy is like a ship you had to take while trying to reach somewhere" or something like that.

Turks hate it when Turkey is being compared to Middle East. "People still think we are riding camels and wearing fes" is a common thing to say when people are talking about tourists. Anyway, if Turkey must be compared to a region other than Europe, than it would be better to compare it to Asian Turkic nations.

Anyway, AKP keeps trying to polarize the people. Nothing new really. People get paid 100 TLs for joining the AKP rallies and absentees get into trouble. I have even seen a woman at an AKP rally saying "We are behind Kılıçdaroğlu! (Main opposition party leader)." It's ridicilous to see how brainless some people can get.

AKP is trying to go for a referandum too, it seems. This didn't make the protestors happy, because protestors are the minority. It's like if Hitler made a referendum about something which Jews hate but Nazis love. This further supports my theory about how Erdoğan misunderstoods Democracy as something like "Dominance of the majority over the minority"

My favorite picture from the Turkish protests so far.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Epic Slingshot Granny

For some reason, I consider her Asian cause of the skin tone and the hairstyle.  Can't see the eyes at all.

Seems Turkish to me. Could be an Asian Turk. Not only Chinese and Japanese people have that "Asian" look you know

It's amazing how a protest bring people together. This isn't a young movement anymore. I have seen people in their 70s and 80s protesting in Taksim. There are also lots of women. You can hear women's screams louder than men's when chanting a slogan sometimes.

Cutting this short. I might be absent for a long time.

[Haspen]

Take care, our Turkish ambassador of bay12!

[olemars]

The show is back on in Taksim according to live news. Police going in with teargas and watercannons.

[XXSockXX]

The show is back on in Taksim according to live news. Police going in with teargas and watercannons.

Just saw that too. Apparently they have cleard Taksim and Gezi Park for now, with many people injured again and many arrested. Erdogan had given the protesters an ultimatum to leave the place until tomorrow, so that shows again how reliable his promises are.

[olemars]

If I understand this correctly, he cleared the park to make room for an AKP rally in the park tomorrow? Isn't that just asking for violent clashes with thousands of people in the mix?

Edit:

Erdogan had delivered his warning at a rally of tens of thousands of supporters of his AKP party in Ankara promising that the square would be cleared by Sunday in time for a second rally there. "We have our Istanbul rally tomorrow," Erdogan warned. "I say it clearly: Taksim Square must be evacuated, otherwise this country's security forces know how to evacuate it."

[Yannanth]

.

[10ebbor10]

So wait.

Everyone who enters Istanbul’s Taksim Square, the heart of nearly 20-day-long protests against the government, will be considered a member or a supporter of a terrorist organization

Erdogan had delivered his warning at a rally of tens of thousands of supporters of his AKP party in Ankara promising that the square would be cleared by Sunday in time for a second rally there. "We have our Istanbul rally tomorrow," Erdogan warned. "I say it clearly: Taksim Square must be evacuated, otherwise this country's security forces know how to evacuate it."

The AKP just declared itself a terroristical organisation?

[DarkWolfXV]

My first post to this thread, and while i didn't read the whole thing, holy shit, this is amazing that people are fighting back. Keep up the good work, im proud of these people. The Power Shovel Vs Police Car situation was just hilarious.

[SalmonGod]

Seeing stuff on Facebook about the police putting some chemical (supposedly labeled OC Solution) into the water cannons that is causing severe skin reactions.  Looks something like a painful sunburn.  Red, hot, and swollen.

[Sheb]

OC? That'd be pepper spray, in a water cannon.

[SalmonGod]

OC? That'd be pepper spray, in a water cannon.

Oh, duh

I just don't see it referred to as OC Spray very often, and OC Solution is even further off.

[Dutchling]

I thought the internet generally sees OC as a good thing?

[LordSlowpoke]

Watered down OC is not acceptable.

[Leatra]

Wow Turkey, you just went full Arab. Erdogan is blaming the Jews for the protests. Never go full Arab.

Edit: man, this is gold. The police chief just played the terrorist card. So much popcorn, hahaha.

I know, right? Someone should shake Erdoğan and tell him to ease up on the Arab throttle. We got enough dictators in the East.

Police is definitely mixing something but I don't know what it is. I saw people puking their guts out. This can't be just pepper spray. A volunteer doctor helping the wounded around the area confirmed this.

What would a leader do in this situation? He would try to calm the population right? Erdoğan? Nope. He is just gathering an even bigger rally to oppose the protesters. Erdoğan is someone who would push his nation into a civil war just so he won't have to apologize.