Occupy Gezi / Istanbul Protests

[jeremyy]

 

 

(Reuters) - Turkish police fired tear gas and water cannon on Friday at protesters occupying a park in central Istanbul, wounding scores including tourists in the harshest crackdown so far on days of anti-government unrest.

 

The protest at Gezi Park started late on Monday after developers tore up trees but has widened into a broader demonstration against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP).

 

Friday's violence erupted after a dawn police raid on demonstrators who had camped for days in the park in anger at plans to build a shopping mall. Clouds of tear gas rose around the area in Taksim Square, long a venue for political protest.

 

Broken glass and rocks were strewn across a main shopping street. A group of primary school children ran crying from the tear gas while tourists caught by surprise scurried to get back to luxury hotels lining the square.

 

"We do not have a government, we have Tayyip Erdogan...Even AK Party supporters are saying they have lost their mind, they are not listening to us," said Koray Caliskan, a political scientist at Bosphorus University who attended the protest. "This is the beginning of a summer of discontent."

 

Riot police clashed with tens of thousands of May Day protesters in Istanbul weeks ago. There have also been protests against the government's stance on the conflict in neighbouring Syria, a recent tightening of restrictions on alcohol sales and warnings against public displays of affection.

 

"This isn't just about trees anymore, it's about all of the pressure we're under from this government. We're fed up, we don't like the direction the country is headed in," said 18-year-old student Mert Burge, who came to support the protesters after reading on Twitter about the police use of tear gas.

 

"We will stay here tonight and sleep on the street if we have to," he said.

 

An Egyptian tourist was in a critical condition after being hit by a police gas canister, Istanbul Medical Chamber board member Huseyin Demirduzen told Reuters. The 34-year-old woman was undergoing an operation after suffering a brain haemorrhage.

 

A total of 12 people, including a pro-Kurdish MP and a Reuters photographer, suffered trauma injuries and hundreds suffered respiratory problems due to the effects of tear gas during the clashes, Demirduzen said.

 

Some people were injured when a wall they were climbing collapsed as they tried to flee clouds of tear gas.

 

Amnesty International said it was concerned by what it described as "the use of excessive force" by the police against what had started out as a peaceful protest.

 

Interior Minister Muammer Guler promised that claims that police had used disproportionate force would be investigated.

 

Erdogan has overseen a transformation in Turkey during his decade in power, turning its economy from crisis-prone into Europe's fastest-growing. Per capita income has tripled in nominal terms since his party rose to power.

 

He remains by far Turkey's most popular politician, and is widely viewed as its most powerful leader since Mustafa Kemal Ataturk founded the modern secular republic on the ashes of the Ottoman Empire 90 years ago.

 

The unrest has not matched the mass demonstrations seen in some Arab or European countries in recent years, but it reflects growing opposition concern about Erdogan's authoritarianism.

 

DEFIANCE

 

Hundreds of military officers have been jailed for plotting a coup against Erdogan in recent years. Academics, journalists, politicians and others face trial on similar charges.

 

Erdogan has made no secret of his ambition to run for the presidency in elections next year when his term as prime minister ends, exacerbating opposition dismay.

 

"These people will not bow down to you" read one banner at the Gezi Park protest, alongside a cartoon of Erdogan wearing an Ottoman emperor's turban.

 

Postings on social media including Twitter, where "Occupy Gezi" - a reference to protests in New York and London last year - was a top-trending hashtag, and Facebook said similar demonstrations were planned for the next few days in other Turkish cities including Ankara, Izmir, Adana and Bursa.

 

"Kiss protests", in which demonstrators are urged to lock lips, had already been planned for Istanbul and Ankara this weekend after subway officials were reported to have admonished a couple for kissing in public a week ago.

 

Erdogan is pushing ahead with a slew of multi-billion dollar projects which he sees as embodying Turkey's emergence as a major power. They include a shipping canal designed to rival Panama or Suez, a giant mosque and a third Istanbul airport billed to be one of the world's biggest.

 

Speaking just a few miles from Gezi Park at the launch on Wednesday of construction of a third bridge linking Istanbul's European and Asian shores, Erdogan vowed to pursue plans to redevelop Taksim Square.

 

Architects, leftist political parties, academics, city planners and others have long opposed the plans, saying they lacked consultation with civic groups and would remove one of central Istanbul's few green spaces.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/05/31/uk-turkey-protests-idUKBRE94U0JA20130531

 

 

since the local channels are not allowed to stream this protest, you can watch the live stream here: http://trlivespor.net/ more than 80,000 people are watching.

 

and some photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

more: http://occupygezipics.tumblr.com/

 

videos:

cnn international:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=68ht7RO0Hto

the spiker couldn't breath properly because of the tear gas

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uofQzHb5hw&feature=youtube_gdata_player

he died after that..!!

 

you can follow everything on Twitter as hashtag #occupygezi or #direngeziparkı

[jeremyy]

people were protesting all night long! this is one of the biggest symbol of istanbul, the Bosphorus

[Black Rose]

The next country to lose its leaders?

[jeremyy]

we don'T know yet... he had spoken once at this morning, I'm not in Turkey, so I'm just trying to follow eveyrthing on twitter+facebook+tumblr+ cnn international and other international channels.

and local channels are not allowed to stream anything, they are assimilated.

[lili_pt]

Just read this blog online, thought it was a nice read about the subject:

 

"What is Happenning in Istanbul?

To my friends who live outside of Turkey:

 

I am writing to let you know what is going on in Istanbul for the last five days. I personally have to write this because most of the media sources are shut down by the government and the word of mouth and the internet are the only ways left for us to explain ourselves and call for help and support.

 

Four days ago a group of people who did not belong to any specific organization or ideology got together in Istanbul’s Gezi Park. Among them there were many of my friends and students. Their reason was simple: To prevent and protest the upcoming demolishing of the park for the sake of building yet another shopping mall at very center of the city. There are numerous shopping malls in Istanbul, at least one in every neighborhood! The tearing down of the trees was supposed to begin early Thursday morning. People went to the park with their blankets, books and children. They put their tents down and spent the night under the trees. Early in the morning when the bulldozers started to pull the hundred-year-old trees out of the ground, they stood up against them to stop the operation.

 

They did nothing other than standing in front of the machines.

 

No newspaper, no television channel was there to report the protest. It was a complete media black out.

 

But the police arrived with water cannon vehicles and pepper spray. They chased the crowds out of the park.

 

In the evening the number of protesters multiplied. So did the number of police forces around the park. Meanwhile local government of Istanbul shut down all the ways leading up to Taksim square where the Gezi Park is located. The metro was shut down, ferries were cancelled, roads were blocked.

 

Yet more and more people made their way up to the center of the city by walking.

 

They came from all around Istanbul. They came from all different backgrounds, different ideologies, different religions. They all gathered to prevent the demolition of something bigger than the park:

 

The right to live as honorable citizens of this country.

 

They gathered and marched. Police chased them with pepper spray and tear gas and drove their tanks over people who offered the police food in return. Two young people were run over by the tanks and were killed. Another young woman, a friend of mine, was hit in the head by one of the incoming tear gas canisters. The police were shooting them straight into the crowd. After a three hour operation she is still in Intensive Care Unit and in very critical condition. As I write this we don’t know if she is going to make it. This blog is dedicated to her.

 

These people are my friends. They are my students, my relatives. They have no «hidden agenda» as the state likes to say. Their agenda is out there. It is very clear. The whole country is being sold to corporations by the government, for the construction of malls, luxury condominiums, freeways, dams and nuclear plants. The government is looking for (and creating when necessary) any excuse to attack Syria against its people’s will.

 

On top of all that, the government control over its people’s personal lives has become unbearable as of late. The state, under its conservative agenda passed many laws and regulations concerning abortion, cesarean birth, sale and use of alcohol and even the color of lipstick worn by the airline stewardesses.

 

People who are marching to the center of Istanbul are demanding their right to live freely and receive justice, protection and respect from the State. They demand to be involved in the decision-making processes about the city they live in.

 

What they have received instead is excessive force and enormous amounts of tear gas shot straight into their faces. Three people lost their eyes.

 

Yet they still march. Hundred of thousands join them. Couple of more thousand passed the Bosporus Bridge on foot to support the people of Taksim.

 

No newspaper or TV channel was there to report the events. They were busy with broadcasting news about Miss Turkey and “the strangest cat of the world”.

 

Police kept chasing people and spraying them with pepper spray to an extent that stray dogs and cats were poisoned and died by it.

 

Schools, hospitals and even 5 star hotels around Taksim Square opened their doors to the injured. Doctors filled the classrooms and hotel rooms to provide first aid. Some police officers refused to spray innocent people with tear gas and quit their jobs. Around the square they placed jammers to prevent internet connection and 3g networks were blocked. Residents and businesses in the area provided free wireless network for the people on the streets. Restaurants offered food and water for free.

 

People in Ankara and İzmir gathered on the streets to support the resistance in Istanbul.

 

Mainstream media kept showing Miss Turkey and “the strangest cat of the world”.

 

***

 

I am writing this letter so that you know what is going on in Istanbul. Mass media will not tell you any of this. Not in my country at least. Please post as many as articles as you see on the Internet and spread the word.

 

As I was posting articles that explained what is happening in Istanbul on my Facebook page last night someone asked me the following question:

 

«What are you hoping to gain by complaining about our country to foreigners?»

 

This blog is my answer to her.

 

By so called «complaining» about my country I am hoping to gain:

 

Freedom of expression and speech,

 

Respect for human rights,

 

Control over the decisions I make concerning my on my body,

 

The right to legally congregate in any part of the city without being considered a terrorist.

 

But most of all by spreading the word to you, my friends who live in other parts of the world, I am hoping to get your awareness, support and help!

 

Please spread the word and share this blog.

 

Thank you!

 

For futher info and things you can do for help please see Amnesty International’s Call for Urgent Help"

 

http://defnesumanblogs.com/2013/06/01/what-is-happenning-in-istanbul/

 

Is local media still not streaming anything?

I read that protests are still going today.

[jeremyy]

they are not streaming anything!!!!! last night CNN TURKEY were broadcasting a document about penguens.

but there is only one local channel: http://www.halkhaber.tv/

cnn international, zdf, france24, bbc world and some other international channels are streaming sometimes.

twitter and facebook are our only chance. people are streaming from their phones by using ustream. my friends are there.

 

 

please share those things on your social networks.

normally I don't like using social media in political way, I've never shared/posted those things before.

but we have nothing else to do right now...

[jeremyy]

anonymus is hacking government websites. https://twitter.com/YourAnonNews

[lili_pt]

I have seen a lot of Portuguese friends sharing that blog, guess those are good news for you :).

 

And just to let you know: as you must certainly know Erdogan is here in Morocco..guess what? No Moroccan TV channel has even mentioned these events. I'm really glad Internet exists!

[jeremyy]

^thank you... I'll let my friends know that...

[jeremyy]

if you want to hear more:

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/full-page-ad-for-turkish-democracy-in-action-occupygezi-for-the-world--37

and a video with subtitles

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8h_mcdGvhi4&feature=share]Sokak Ro?portajlar? Kim bu Gezi Park?ndakiler/ English Subtitle - YouTube[/ame]

[Reilly]

^You have to go to the actual page and then hit the captions option on Youtube to read what they're saying in English, for anyone who feels they just want to close it before reading the description like I almost did.

[lili_pt]

^Yeah it took me awhile to understand that too but then it works fine.

 

By the way, The Guardian noticed the way how the money was raised successfully for the cover of the NYT: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/03/turkey-new-york-times-ad

[jeremyy]

Erdoğan was in Morocco last days and The king of Morocco refused to meet with Erdoğan :clap: now he is on his way to tunusia or he is already there, as some newspapers people are protesting him.

 

and this video shows some funny sides of the protests

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV0NTUY0Zls]Everyday I'm Çapuling ! - YouTube[/ame]

 

you will notice the penguens around 0:34, CNN Turkey was broadcasting a documentary about penguens while people were fighting with police and was exposed to teargas & water cannons.

 

a actor was protesting this chanel by wearing penguen t-shirt :laugh3: