Gezi operation in full force as forces raid over 100 locations
Having spent some time in the past few days talking with working-class people in Istanbul (shopkeepers, traders, taxi drivers, housewives, and others) and residents of a village that I know well, I heard unimpeded support for AKP and PM Erdogan and a lack of sympathy for Gezi protesters, who are seen to be primarily destroyers of property who are causing financial damage to people, and who are likely steered by outside interests. They throw molotov cocktails and tear up paving stones (the two main examples that came up over and over) and therefore the police should be cracking down on them. There was sometimes a reluctant acknowledgement that there may have been excessive force used (usually by women, rarely by men), but the overall assessment was that the protesters deserved it for causing trouble. I suggested in one case that the people causing damage were only a small number compared to the peaceful others on the street. The response: If you have fifty eggs and you find that several are rotten, what are you supposed to do with the rest? You smash them too.
Police have once again fired water cannons and tear gas against protesters while shop owners threatened them with batons
Meanwhile in Turkish politics:
Turkish PM meets with finance, economy and development ministers to discuss ‘fluctuations’
The Turkish financial market is affected by fluctuations in the world economy, the Prime Minister’s office said after a special meeting on the economic situation
?Multiple choice referendum? for new charter
Parliamentary Speaker Cemil Çiçek announced last week after meeting with political party leaders
Nationalist Movement Party makes U-turn on PM Erdoğan’s charter offer
The MHP has withdrawn its support for a recent offer by PM Erdoğan for rapid parliamentary approval of 48 articles agreed at the Constitution Conciliation Commissio
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