Erdogan defies Turkish protesters – live updates
Follow live updates after Recep Tayyip Erdogan insisted that he will go ahead with plans to develop Taksim Square
Protests threaten Turkey’s economy
Mobilising on Twitter, Turkish protesters risk arrest – FRANCE 24
FRANCE 24
“It’s not surprising that social media have played a crucial role in popular protests, largely due to the mainstream media’s failure to act,” said Asli Tunc, a professor at Istanbul‘s Bilgi University. “Young Turks are not reading newspapers or
Scenes from the Gezi Park Protests
The New Republic
Murat Paker, a professor of psychology at Bilgi University, is encouraged by this. “The protests imply a strong, but still small, emergence of a new left movement,” he told me. “They represent a new type of opposition, not the nationalistic masses who
Rising Authoritarianism under Erdo?an?s Rule in Turkey
For the last few days, there is a boom in the international coverage of the protests in Turkey and the appalling police brutality against the civilian demonstrators. Now, everybody knows that what has started on 27 May, as a peaceful ?occupy? event in Taksim Gezi Park against the demolition of the only green area at the heart of Istanbul, has taken another turn. Among many reports sharing the basic facts with the international community more accurately than the mainstream Turkish media, many keen analysts trying to make sense of the sudden social eruption have drawn parallels between the Arab spring and the civilian protests noting that the protests ?sow the seeds of Turkish spring?[1] and the Taksim protests which spread to 60+ provinces in Turkey by the third day might become PM ?Erdo?an?s Tahrir square?
Erdogan must work for all Turks
?Turkish Spring: Occupy Gezi? By Dr. Ozan Örmeci
By Dr. Ozan Örmeci (Girne American University, Cyprus)
A small environmentalist protest that started on 28 May 2013 in order to protect one of the rare green areas in Taksim called ?Gezi Park? surprisingly turned into a massive social movement in Turkey this week. Although the Turkish media -probably because of government?s pressures- did not seem willingly to publish news about the anti-government demonstrations in the early days, after a huge interest shown by the international media, demonstrations became very
Gezi Resistance Suspends Bill Proposal on Nature
Policeman dies after falling off bridge during protests in Turkey
A police commissioner has succumbed to injuries sustained on June 5 after he fell from a bridge.
EU commissioner Füle to meet Taksim Solidarity
The European Union?s commissioner for enlargement, Stefan Füle, will meet with the representatives of the Taksim Solidarity Platform.
Living in Taksim, Daily Report June 5, 2013
First off: Do not believe the reports in the media saying that Deputy PM Arınç has apologized. His words were directed to a very small group (the activists attacked in the park on the first night of the events), completely disregarding those killed and the thousands injured by police violence since the beginning; and his ?apology? sounded more like a f*** you. Some people have a way of making anything sound that way? (Here?s a Turkish video of the ?apology?)
Living in Taksim – Daily Report June 4, 2013
Spent most of the day indoors again, my cold is receding though. When I went out to the park at around 20:30, it was even more crowded than the previous days. people are celebrating, singing. There’s a field hospital, the kitchen is running, and now there’s a small library as well. Everyone is kind towards one another – apparently even on the subway. We went to eat something at Kitchenette on the square, the service, which is usually polite but slow, was kind, fast, and as odd as it sounds, gentle. They let people (and there are tens of thousands on the square) use their bathrooms, let them charge their phones and access free wifi.
Living in Taksim – Daily Report June 3, 2013
I’ve been away from my blog for far too long. This may be a good time to come back, to post my daily experiences during the most unusual times Istanbul has seen in my lifetime. These are just brief notes, nothing too exciting possibly, but as a resident of Taksim, I have a closer view on the park than most people…
Will Turkey’s protests curb its regional ambitions?
The protests raging on Turkey’s main streets have drawn international attention to a country that has always had a special significance in its historic ? and volatile ? corner of the world.