Thanks for the information. How big are the general strikes? What impact are they having? Is Erdogan's internal party support weakening?
There is some infighting between AKP politicians but since most of them are like leeches sucking power and wealth out of this country, I'm sure they won't abandon their daddy Erdoğan.
Worker class didn't have a big effect. They dropped the job for a few days, joined the protests for a short time, but that's it. It's appalling. I know Erdoğan is a powerful dictator but I don't think unions would sell themselves. The majority of the protestors are students right now.
How many cops are defecting?
Well, the word is the pressure on cops caused a few of them to commit suicide but I'm not sure if it's true or not. They would probably use it in the media like "Protestors killed a peaceful police officer!" or something like that. Only 3-5 cops resigned. The police force is a little different in Turkey. It's a long story but to become a cop you have to join Fetullah Gülen's cult. If you are in Fetullah's cult they give you the exam answers so you'll have no difficulty in the academy. You get some fundamentalist brainwashing from there after you graduate. That explains why there aren't many cops defecting and the hatred they display when engaging the protestors. It's possible to become a cop without getting mixed in with the cult but it's like there are 5-10 cops in every 300 recruits. Fetullah Gülen is Erdoğan's best pal so AKP is cool with it. Two fundamentalist idiots scratching each others backs. You guys must have heard about it, it's nothing new.
Yup, using tear gas is banned under the third Geneva conference, together with all other poison gasses (ie, they didn't make an exception). Which is a fairly sad thing, as house to house fighting could be greatly simplified with it.
Hmm, it's kind of funny how it's allowed on unarmed people. They should at least don't fire them into apartments. Gas bombs can be really dangerous when it activates inside a building. And when they fire it into a closed window, the glass can get into your eye or something because of the canister's momentum. The glass tends to slow down the canister at least.
Or someone that know that the soldier ain't going to shoot to kill and doesn't have the gear to answer in a non-lethal fashion.
A soldier loyal to the government won't shoot to kill. Tear gassing soldiers is a great way to incite a coup.
No soldier is loyal to government in Turkey but they don't seem likely to start a coup right now. Erdoğan threw a lot of high-ranking soldiers into jail so the military is kinda harmless for now.
The turkish foreign minister and an AKP speaker have condemned the military coup in Egypt. Looks like that one hit too close to home.
The source for the AKP speaker is in german, the quote is "I curse the dirty coup in Egypt." 
Oh whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do when your ideological buddy gets his ass kicked and there is the possibility of the same thing happening to you? Yeah, that's what happens when you use religions to further your personal agenda. That's why I believe religions are harmful to humanity. The corrupted politicians are getting what's coming to them, I just hope we will have a less bloody (and coupless) version of Egypt.
No news from Leatra too...almost a week now.
Heh, sorry. I don't have internet at home and I'm kind of busy these days.
Well, he said he wouldn't have much internet access over the summer. But apparently the protests aren't as big anymore since the Gezi Park camp was cleared. The media seems to have lost interest a bit too. At least the german wikipedia has a day to day overview of the protests with turkish sources.
Well, there are still things happening here and there. Here is a summary.
A festival named "1. Gas-Man Festival" took place in Taksim. There were lots of dancing. A lot of artists and musicians showed their support to the protestors. No police intervention. They couldn't dare.
AKP opened the Gezi Park for the people, (a poor attempt at gathering the loyalists there if you ask me) and then quickly closed it again when people started protesting them again. These AKP guys are funny.
Another dead. A man was beaten to death by AKP loyalists. This increases the official dead count to five.
An AKP loyalist carrying a machete attacked the protestors.
You can see him attacking a woman here. I saw the video of this man casually chatting with police with the machete in his hands but I can't find it right now. You know, this passive resistance bullshit can sometimes get on your nerves.
I think I already told about this but I'm gonna do it again anyway. A mosque (Dolmabahçe Mosque) which was very close to Taksim was turned into a temporary hospital.
Here is a recording from the mosque. Erdoğan's comment? "They walked into that sacred mosque with their dirty shoes and they even drank alcohol in there!" The müezzin (The person who issues the call to prayer from one of the minarets of a mosque, the weird Arabian words you hear from mosques comes from these fellas) comment? "I'm a man of Allah. I cannot lie. I didn't see anyone drinking in the mosque" Ba-dum-tish!
There are more but that's all I can share atm. I'll log in more regularly from now on though. Feel free to ask any questions
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Topic: Arab Spring springs to Turkey (Read 42832 times)