Mass Protests in Turkey

Kniall said:
Horseofadifferentcolor said:
aurora said:
The "Standing Man"

The protests have changed shape and now people just stand motionless to protest the government.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/standing-man-becomes-symbol-of-turkey-protests

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jun/18/turkey-standing-man

Thanks for the post aurora, Turkey has been in my thoughts a lot today. I was wondering why nobody here has had much to say about it. I think the standing thing has a lot of beauty to it. This comment made from a poster from one of the sites you linked was

"What would be amazing is if these people were, right now, protesting at the jails where their friends and comrades of the movement were currently being detained, or joining n the public assemblies in Besiktas to discuss how to defend against the oncoming onslaught by Erdogan's police.I've got no beef with this standing man protest. Its great. I've got beef with the ideological and naive lense through which liberals view these types of protests.

These people wouldn't be standing there looking so photogenic if it wasn;t for the bravery of those involved in the last few weeks (4 dead thousands injured, hundreds now being jailed)"

I agree somewhat with that.

I really wonder what if anything will become of this. And Brazil? Is anybody in different countries even paying any attention that so many people everywhere are leading lives of quite desperation and now want to have a voice?

SOTT is paying attention! :v:

I know what you mean though. I'm also a little disappointed by the general lack of interest. It's like, "Simultaneous revolutions in two of the most populated/strategically important countries in the world? Whateva, I'm going shopping!"

But then I wonder if people are noticing and are quietly taking it in?..

Take a look at this article: http://www.sott.net/article/262532-Climate-change-and-revolution-Complex-systems-theorists-warn-we-are-one-year-away-from-global-riots

Apparently there's a specific 'hunger threshold' a country has to reach before mass demonstrations break out.

I've a feeling all it's going to take is one more round of crop failures, then it's game over, the world over.

Thanks for that connection Kniall. I had not thought of this. The radio program today is perfect in light of this.
 
Kniall said:
Horseofadifferentcolor said:
aurora said:
The "Standing Man"

The protests have changed shape and now people just stand motionless to protest the government.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/standing-man-becomes-symbol-of-turkey-protests

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jun/18/turkey-standing-man

Thanks for the post aurora, Turkey has been in my thoughts a lot today. I was wondering why nobody here has had much to say about it. I think the standing thing has a lot of beauty to it. This comment made from a poster from one of the sites you linked was

"What would be amazing is if these people were, right now, protesting at the jails where their friends and comrades of the movement were currently being detained, or joining n the public assemblies in Besiktas to discuss how to defend against the oncoming onslaught by Erdogan's police.I've got no beef with this standing man protest. Its great. I've got beef with the ideological and naive lense through which liberals view these types of protests.

These people wouldn't be standing there looking so photogenic if it wasn;t for the bravery of those involved in the last few weeks (4 dead thousands injured, hundreds now being jailed)"

I agree somewhat with that.

I really wonder what if anything will become of this. And Brazil? Is anybody in different countries even paying any attention that so many people everywhere are leading lives of quite desperation and now want to have a voice?

SOTT is paying attention! :v:

I know what you mean though. I'm also a little disappointed by the general lack of interest. It's like, "Simultaneous revolutions in two of the most populated/strategically important countries in the world? Whateva, I'm going shopping!"

But then I wonder if people are noticing and are quietly taking it in?..

Take a look at this article: http://www.sott.net/article/262532-Climate-change-and-revolution-Complex-systems-theorists-warn-we-are-one-year-away-from-global-riots

Apparently there's a specific 'hunger threshold' a country has to reach before mass demonstrations break out.

I've a feeling all it's going to take is one more round of crop failures, then it's game over, the world over.

Although i support the theory about the correlation between food prices/hunger and civil unrest/riots, the current situation in Turkey is much more different. The population portion who is revolting(*) or supporting the revolts right now, which is almost %50 (may be more) of the general population, is coming mainly from upper middle classes (and/or higher) of the general population. Though there are also certain number of protesters from lower income groups involved in the movement we can safely say, in general, the protesters and the supporters are from higher socio-economic classes of Turkey, compared to Erdogan and AKP supporters.

In the last 25 days i've actively participated in the protests, in the streets or in social media. The thing is protesters in themselves are from various or even opposite political, social sides. The funny (positively) thing is, 2 months ago no one including me could imagine most of these different political, cultural groups coming together, collaborating for a purpose : restraining Erdogan's dictatorial politics, which were getting more insane and authoritarian day by day, and his narcissistic behaviours and obstinate manner against everyone who disagrees with him.

So being anti-Erdogan is the common ground for the protesters, although the motives (and their priorities) differs in various political, cultural segments. The main motives are :

- increasing deviations from secular state (many insidious steps are taken already)
- unsuccessful foreign policies, with many serious problems with every neighboring country
- hostile Syria politics and being USA's puppet
- intervention in almost every aspect of social life (having at least 3 kids is about to become almost a state policy, the main agenda behind this is the imprisonment of modern Turkish women into the houselife and chip labor generations for the future)
- abortion and and other birth control restrictions
- unrealistic Pan-Ottomanism dreams at the expense of dragging the country into total chaos and war
etc.

In short Erdogan is an uneducated psychopath who doesn't know the meaning of (even allegedly)democracy (compared to other psychopaths in Western countries). What he says is "i have the majority of the votes, thus the parliament, so i can decide and do whatever i want, he does not give a damn about what other half (40 million) thinks .

(*) National or international TV's and internet media show only a small portion of the protests and participants, not only because of media blackout but also because of the difficulty to cover everything, so even the alternate media focus only the main squares, streets of the main cities. But in fact in 10s or maybe 100s of other districts of Istanbul (and some other main cities) people start to protest after 9:00pm. Groups gather in corners or small parks of their neighbourhood and protest. Those who don't and can't (old people generally) go easily outside protest from their windows, balconies ringing pots and spoons. Imagine the famous scene from Network (1976) movie, only a lot louder and more widespread :lol:
 
uca said:
[...]

National or international TV's and internet media show only a small portion of the protests and participants, not only because of media blackout but also because of the difficulty to cover everything, so even the alternate media focus only the main squares, streets of the main cities. But in fact in 10s or maybe 100s of other districts of Istanbul (and some other main cities) people start to protest after 9:00pm. Groups gather in corners or small parks of their neighbourhood and protest. Those who don't and can't (old people generally) go easily outside protest from their windows, balconies ringing pots and spoons. Imagine the famous scene from Network (1976) movie, only a lot louder and more widespread

If you added some pics, maybe expanded on a few more details, and linked to some news reports, you would have a neat little eyewitness report we could put on SOTT...

:whistle:
 
North Cyprus Solidarity.
June 16th 2013

http://www.lgcnews.com/trnc-union-to-strike-in-solidarity-with-gezi-park/

The TRNC Union of Public Employees has just announced a strike for tomorrow.
The strike will last from 9am to midday tomorrow. At 10 am there will be a march to the Turkish Embassy in Nicosia.
The press statement from union head, Ahmet Kaptan said that on June 15th the ruling AKP party gave orders to the police to attack children and old people with water cannon and tear gas. The wounded were not allowed medical attention, journalists were restricted from reporting. Where the public hid in hotels and restaurants, these too were attacked with tear gas. This is a policy of domination.
The union called on all the political parties and concerned citizens to join union members in front of the Turkish Embassy at 10am.
 
Article being considered for deletion by wikileaks

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_solidarity_rallies_with_the_2013_protests_in_Turkey

Supporting protests in cities of the Turkish diaspora and solidarity movements:

In Szeged, Hungary around 70 students demonstrated against Erdoğan's government and supported the Turkish protestors.[1]
On 1 June, people rallied in San Francisco,[2] Chicago,[3] San Diego,[4] New York City[5] and Washington D.C.[6] in support of the protesters.
In Bulgaria, dozens of Turkish students protested in the capital Sofia on 1 June 2013.[7] Later on the same day a rally in solidarity with the protesters in Istanbul was held in front of Turkey's Embassy in Sofia by Zelenite (The Greens) - a young activist-based political party, member of the European Green Party. [8] Bulgarian students and nature protection activists joined the rally.[9]
In Amsterdam, Netherlands over a thousand Turks and sympathizers demonstrated on the Beursplein for two consecutive days.[10][11] Also, 200 Turks protested in Eindhoven on 2 June 2013.[12] Other protests were held in Rotterdam and Arnhem among other cities.
In Baku, Azerbaijan, a group of 50–60 Turks protested on 1 June for forty minutes until dispersed by the police.[13]
In Brussels, Belgium, over a hundred Turks protested on 1 June 2013, expressing their solidarity.[14]
In Bucharest, Romania, a demonstration also took place on 2 June.[15]
In Milan, up to three hundred protesters of Turkish and other descents marched from Parco Sempione to Piazza Duomo, chanting "enough of Fascism, enough of Erdoğan" and "end violence in Istanbul".[16]
In Geneva,[17] Zurich, Bern and Basel hundreds of Turks who live in Switzerland protested on 1–3 June 2013, expressing their solidarity.[18]
In Berlin,[19] Hamburg, Munich, Köln, Bielefeld, Mannheim and Stuttgart,[20] Germany solidarity protests took place on 1 June 2013.[21]
In Vienna, Austria on 31 June people gathered Stefansplatz to protest the government. Nearly 200 people were there. Later on, More than 4000 people have gathered at Karlsplatz and then Stadtpark to show support for the protests in Istanbul on 1 June 2013.Also on 3 June, nearly 600 people gathered in Schwarzenbergplatz and they marched to the Turkish Embassy in Vienna. On 4th Of June, once again people were gathered to walk to the Turkish Consulate. The protests are still continuing, on Friday the 7th there will be the 4th Protest in Vienna, also on Sunday the 9th, people will gather once again in Stephansplatz to create a FlashMob.[22]
In Los Angeles, USA on 4 June people gathered in front of the CNN headquarters to support the protestors. Nearly 50 people gathered and left an informing flyer to CNN reporter Christiane Amanpour.[23]

Protesters in New York City's Union Square Park

In Paris, France hundreds gathered to show support and demonstrated on Esplanade du Trocadéro on the 1st and 2 June.[24]
In Tel Aviv, Israel, an Amnesty International worker organized a protest of several dozen human rights activists, including some Turkish Israelis, outside the Turkish embassy on 2 June 2013, to show solidarity with the protestors.[25]
Turks and Turkish Cypriots in Northern Cyprus showed solidarity with the protesters, and held their own demonstration in Kuğulu Park, North Nicosia.[26]
In London, United Kingdom, over a thousand people demonstrated in Hyde Park on 1 June.[27] A growing number of attendants keep protesting the ongoing police violence on a daily basis as of 3 June 2013.
In New York, United States, over a thousand people demonstrated in Zucotti Park on 1 June.[28] The protests continued on 2 June in Zucotti Park. The protests continued on June 3, with hundreds of supporters taking a stand in front of the Turkish Consulate located on 50th Street and 3rd Ave.
In Boston, United States, about 500 people demonstrated at the Massachusetts State House on 1 June.[29] The protests continued on 5 June in front of the Turkish Consulate of Boston.
In Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, the Turkish-American Society showed support by gathering at the Latta Park near the uptown area. A bigger, more organized event is scheduled to take place on June 8, 2013 at the heart of the city, on Trade & Tryon Streets.
In Denmark, dozens of people gathered in Copenhagen near city hall on 1 June for demonstration.[citation needed]
In Ottawa, Canada, over a hundred people demonstrated on Parliament Hill on June 2, asking for international support for an immediate end to police violence.[30]
In Montreal's Mont-Royal Park and Toronto's Queens Park, in Canada, more than two hundred people demonstrated. In Montreal, the demonstrators decided to do a sit-in every Sunday at the same hour at Parc Mont-Royal, until Turkish PM resigns.[31][32]
In Vancouver, Canada, a group of Turkish people demonstrated on the Georgia Street side of the Vancouver Art Gallery.[33]
In Poznan, Poland, a small group of Turkish students protested on 3 June to support the resistance in Gezi Park.[34]
In Dublin, Ireland, dozens of Turks protested on 1 June to support the resistance in Gezi Park.[35]
In Prague, Czech Republic, nearly 30-35 people protested Turkish government.[36]
In Athens (3 June)[37] and Thessaloniki (2 June)[38] around 1000 Greek leftists marched in solidarity along with Turkish and Kurdish immigrants and expatriates.
In Tokyo, Japan, over fifty Turks living in Japan demonstrated on June 2.[39]
In China, protests have been held in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.[40]
In Jakarta, Indonesia, nearly 25 Turks showed their opposition to the Turkish government.[41]
In Floriana, Malta, 25-30 Turkish students showed solidarity with Gezi Parkı rioters.[42]
In Bangkok, Thailand, nearly 50 Turks protested police violence against rioters.[43]
In Tbilisi, Georgia, nearly 50 citizens showed solidarity with Gezi Parkı rioters.[44]
On 1 June, people rallied in San Francisco,[2] Chicago,[3] San Diego,[4] New York City[45] and Washington D.C.[6] in support of the protesters. A demonstration also took place in Bucharest the following day.[46]
In Buenos Aires, Argentina, a dozen of Turks protested on 1 June to support the resistance in Gezi Park.[47]
In Seattle, United States, more than 200 Turks held a peaceful demonstration at Westlake Park on 31 May 2013 to show their solidarity with the movement in Turkey, as well as to raise local awareness about the issue.
In Ann Arbor, United States, a group of more than 100 Turks and internationals gathered in front of the post office on East Liberty Street, on June 1, 2013, to protest police violence in solidarity with Gezi Park and to raise awareness in the city.
In Oxford, A solidarity protest by Turkish students at Oxford University was heldon June 2, 2013.[48]
In Belgrade, small-scale protests were organised in the vicinity of the Turkish Embassy on 4 June[49]
In Vilnius, Lithuania, people gathered in the Cathedral Square to provide a message of solidarity to the protesters in Turkey on 2 June.[50]
In Aleppo, Syria, on June 7, 2013, the people of al-Azizyeh neighborhood took to the streets to express condemnation of the policies of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan against the Syrian and Turkish people.[51]
In Madrid, Spain, there was a concentration in Sol Square supporting turkish people [52]
In Santiago, Chile, the Chilean Communist Party (Proletarian Action) held a protest in front of the Turkish Embassy on June 8, 2013, supporting the protests against Erdoğan's regime
In Washington D.C., on June 8, 2013, a group of more than 250 people held a peaceful demonstration in front of the White House to show their solidarity with Gezi Park and raise awareness about the issue.
In Providence, Rhode Island, United States,on the afternoon of June 9, 2013 more than 50 Turks in ages ranging from young school children to the elderly held a peaceful demonstration in front of the Rhode Island State House to show their solidarity with the Gezi Park movement in Turkey. They held up banners supporting human rights and displayed photos of the demonstrations in Turkey to raise awareness about the issues. There was local TV and newspaper coverage of the day's event.
In Oslo, Norway, about 50 Turks gathered outside the building of VG on 4 June to thank the newspaper for broadcasting the protests in Turkey live; the group voiced support for the Turkish protesters.[53]
In Toronto, Canada, there have been 3 different peaceful demonstrations, taking place on May 31, 2013, June 2,2013 and June 9, 2013. Over 500 Turkish-Canadians and supporters of the movement participated in these demonstrations.
In Munich, Germany, about 600 Turks gathered in Odeonsplatz, taking place on June 1, 2013. A second protest was held in Karlsplatz (Stachus) on June 8, 2013.
In Hong Kong, China, about 50 protesters of Hong Kong's Turkish expatriate community gathered along the Tsim Sha Tsui harbourfront yesterday to show solidarity for their compatriots. [54]
In Damascus, Syria, on June 18, 2013, a crowd of people staged a sit-in outside the Turkish Embassy in Syria to express solidarity with the Turkish protesters.[55]
 
Kniall said:
uca said:
[...]

National or international TV's and internet media show only a small portion of the protests and participants, not only because of media blackout but also because of the difficulty to cover everything, so even the alternate media focus only the main squares, streets of the main cities. But in fact in 10s or maybe 100s of other districts of Istanbul (and some other main cities) people start to protest after 9:00pm. Groups gather in corners or small parks of their neighbourhood and protest. Those who don't and can't (old people generally) go easily outside protest from their windows, balconies ringing pots and spoons. Imagine the famous scene from Network (1976) movie, only a lot louder and more widespread

If you added some pics, maybe expanded on a few more details, and linked to some news reports, you would have a neat little eyewitness report we could put on SOTT...

:whistle:

Hi Kniall, i can glady try to do that despite my terrible English. If i understood correctly you ask me primarily to gather information mostly in visual form covering protests, countrywide outside of the center of the protests, Istanbul Taksim square.


First of all a little information, Turkey has an area of 780,580 square kilometers and is divided into 81 provinces. According to many reports and MSM channels the protests spread across Turkey to 77 provinces.

Gezi Park in Istanbul, Taksim square has been the center of the protests from the beginning and during the last 25 days tens of thousands protesters gathered at Taksim square and the districts surrounding Taksim. But as i mentioned in the above post, millions of other people of all ages in Istanbul and other 76 provinces attended to the protests directly (in the streets around their neighbourhood) or indirectly by banging pots and pans in windows and balconies, or even by simply turning the lights off and on.

Here are some videos for the "pots&pans" protests from various places:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdGG58oUD34

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AF-MG3p3e0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aXnCLd0zBc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhCqDzuDB1E

Ankara : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSFwRR7eRN0


Here are some examples people protesting in the streets of their neighbourhood (There are many examples but i try to give examples from different regions, cultures and socioeconomic parts of Turkey:

A small town Gorukle, in Bursa province

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBu-XUCNvtA

Kırklareli province (a small city near Bulgaria border)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7c6j3JT0TPE

Van (in Eastern Turkey)

http://webtv.hurriyet.com.tr/2/50184/0/1/van-dan-taksim-e-gezi-parki-na-destek-eylemi.aspx

Various parts of Istanbul

http://video.cnnturk.com/2013/haber/6/1/istanbuldan-tencere-tava-sesleri-yukseldi

This 2 videos are from Bagdat Caddesi district, Istanbul. Bagdat Caddesi is one of the highest-income districts in Turkey.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCsCaSrjDwA

http://webtv.hurriyet.com.tr/2/50257/0/1/bagdat-caddesi-nde-taksim-gezi-parki-protestosu.aspx

Antalya (on the Mediterranean coast of southwestern Turkey)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS4GknNpzEI

Izmir

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68E0l8-TY7o


On June 1st thousands of people crossing the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul (from Asian side to European side). This was an amazing moment to witness because Bosphorus Bridge is closed to pedestrians and you can enter the Bridge only after kms of walk on highway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjna-9Khg2A


On June 16th, 4 am in the morning, thousands of angry people crossing again the Bosphorus Bridge after the police brutally attacked Gezi Park protesters in Taksim.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRIcFVS6q3Q


Finally i want to add the results of a poll conducted by Konda, a big research company :

http://www.bianet.org/english/youth/147543-94-percent-of-gezi-resisters-participate-individually-poll-says
A recent poll conducted by KONDA on 4411 participants on Gezi Resistance revealed that Gezi protestors are averagely 28 years old with 79 percent not affiliated with any political organization and 45 percent attending a protest for the first time.

KONDA Research and Consulting Firm released a poll regarding the Gezi Park Resistance in Turkey.

According to the poll, 49 percent of participants attended protests to condemn the police violence and 69 percent hearing about the protests through social media.

Another striking result of the poll was that 47 percent of participants thought there is no political party in Turkey that they can vote to and 79 percent with no affiliation with any organization.

The poll has been conducted on 4411 participants on June 6 and 7, news website T24 said.

The results of the poll are as follows:

* How did you hear the protests?
69 percent: Social media
8 percent: Via internet
7 percent: Via TV

* What are you demanding?
34 percent: Protection of freedoms
18 percent: Prevention of right violations
9 percent: Confronting oppression
9 percent: Urging the government to resign

* Why did you come to Gezi Park?
15 percent: Because the trees were cut
49 percent: To protest police violence

* Are you currently a member of any organization/party/association?
79 percent: No affiliation with any association
94 percent: Participated protests individually

* Did you vote on the last elections ? Will you vote on the upcoming elections?

37 percent: Never voted

18 Percent: Won’t vote

29 percent: Undecided

47 percent: Thinks there is no party to vote

* Are you working or student?

52 percent: Working
37 percent: Student
56 percent: University degree/masters degree

* Father’s education?
39 percent: Has a father with university degree/masters degree

* Average age
28

* First protest?
45 percent: Yes

edit : please let me know if this information is sufficient and if anything else is needed
 
It's completely up to you. I thought it might be interesting for SOTT to have an article describing what is really going on in Turkey from the point of view of someone who is in Turkey. The global media doesn't really talk about the protests in Turkey, and if they do, they lie about it.
 
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