Turkey Riots

Thousands have been arrested as the PM seeks to impose some Isamist Order

Calling the protesters ‘a few looters’, Erdogan said he would press ahead with redeveloping Istanbul’s Taksim Square, a project which provoked the demonstrations that have widened into a broader show of defiance against his Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Erdogan singled out the Republican People’s Party (CHP) – set up in 1924 by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk who founded Turkey’s modern secular state – for attack over a dispute he described as ideological.

‘We think that the main opposition party which is making resistance calls on every street is provoking these protests,’ Erdogan said on Turkish television.

Turkey’s fiercest anti-government unrest for years erupted when trees were torn down at a park in Taksim Square under government plans to construct a new mosque and rebuild a replica Ottoman-era barracks.

…Among Turks in general Erdogan remains by far the most popular politician, but critics point to what they see as his authoritarianism and religiously conservative meddling in private lives in the secular republic.

Tighter restrictions on alcohol sales and warnings against public displays of affection in recent weeks have also provoked protests.

Goodness knows we can’t have alcohol and PDA in a modern society.

They have been trying to have a more Western society and Erdogan’s looking to pull them back into that 12th century model that’s worked so well in other areas in that region.

One Response to “Turkey Riots”

1. Kathy Kinsley says:

   June 3, 2013 at 6:54 pm

   Well, personally, I could do without the PDA – except perhaps when performed in airports with returning loved ones.

   Walking down the street necking is just seriously tacky.

   (But it should be dealt with by a sneer, not by stoning.)

   As for the alcohol, I think you know how I feel on THAT issue. To misquote: “You’ll get my scotch when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.”