I don’t have to talk about Snowden and Egypt, Syria and all the other countries struggling for self-determination. It’s all over the web. But I have a special place in my heart for Turkey…and my friends there.
On the first day of Ramaden, Istanbul Turkey broke fast with a mile long table along Istikal Street near Taksim Square. The water cannon trucks were menacingly standing at the end of the street.
Erdogan rallied about 200,000 bussed-in AKP party supporters yesterday, at tax-payer expense and gave a 2-hour hate-filled lie-filled speech while protestors and police fought it out in the side streets.
Police are getting edgy.
Couple thousand union people went on strike Monday and pushed through a police line until the chemical-added water cannons cut them off.
Many suspect Erdogan is already using the gendarmeri but is threatening to send in the army.
Meanwhile the Standing Man becomes top tweet. After 18 days of mass protest against the Turkish Government, sparked by plans to re-develop Istanbul’s Gezi Park, Monday’s headline was grabbed by a solitary act of defiance in nearby Taksim Square.
Performance artist Erdem Gündüz stood silently in front of the flag of modern Turkey’s founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, hung on the Atatürk Culture Center — scheduled for destruction in the clearance of Gezi Park’s green space for a replica Ottoman-era military barracks.
Gündüz remained for six hours until he and a group that joined him in the silent stare were briefly detained by police. The act is being replicated in several international locations.
Standing Man
This Is What Fascism Looks Like
https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=570701319648175
A savvy Turkish friend wonders if Erdogan wants civil war.
June 19 Update
Well, yesterday, Erdogan, after initially promising to leave the park alone, emptied the park with only seconds of warning.
The police emptied Gezi Park in Istanbul with tear gas, water cannons with water that leaves people with skin burns, extremely strong gas and all manner of cruelty by the police including rubber bullets and clubbing. Just because people want to peacefully exercise their right of free speech and free assembly. In a democratic country, this is an attack on democracy everywhere.
The police attacked makeshift infirmaries in hotel lobbies with tear gas and clubs…where children and elders especially…had taken refuge. There was no escape. Erdogan is a megalomaniac on every level and must be stopped. When one protestor asked a policeman why he was doing this, the policeman said: “You pay me like the government does and I will fight for you too.”
10 people have lost an eye, at least 4 people are dead, one in Ankara shot dead with a real bullet by a policeman, and scores are hospitalized with serious injuries…not just in Istanbul but in other cities.
Today, with tax money from all Turks, he is shipping AKP party people into Istanbul in a show of support. He intends to follow with “dog and pony shows” in other cities. My friends in Turkey are saying they will also show up again today. I am worried for them now.
I hope the people take heart in the fact that Erdegon has shown the world he is not a Statesman. He is using secularism in a thinly disguised move toward absolute authoritarianism. Ataturk would turn over in his grave.
A comment to an article in the Waahington Post today: “To form a meaningful opposition, the various political parties need to form a united front with a limited set of common objectives. Until now, every one of them has insisted on their own ideological purity in positions. It’s a classic example of ‘divide and rule’. Maybe, just maybe, these events might be the trigger to form a common opposition party.”
Erdogan met with members of the Solidarity Group yesterday. Apparently it didn’t go well.
On Facebook this morning by OccupyGezi:
Media claims that PM Erdogan has raged at the previous night’s meeting with the representatives and left the meeting suddenly without even handshakes. They wrote that PM Erdogan was mad at Arzu Cerkezoglu, the General Secretary of Confederation of Progressive Trade Union, about her comment. Cerkezoglu says she told the PM Erdogan “Sir, if we were making this meeting on 25th of May, we could have been talking about the architectural and environmental issues. But it has been weeks now, people are on the streets, 4 of them dead. It has been 17 days, mothers are on the streets. If we are here for the solution, we must talk about the truth. Those people are telling you something on the streets from day to night. Don’t you think that we have to talk about these issues? This is not an architectural issue, it’s a sociologic issue.”
Arzu Cerkezoglu says in the paper “The PM, who has been continuously interrupting my speech, gave a harsh response when I say this is a sociologic issue. He raised his voice and said `Who are you to teach us sociology? We know sociology and psychology. How do you dare saying those to us?`”
http://haber.gazetevatan.com/uzun-gecede-gergin-anlar/546123/1/gundem
Some protestors say they are not represented by any group political or otherwise. And a tweeter on the ground says they will occupy one symbolic tent in the park while the others will leave. We will see what happens.
Meanwhile Erdogan is planning on counter-rallies in several cities in a show of support for himself. Tens of thousands are expected to show up. PM Erdogan speaking at the rally: “Our people has sense that this is a trap, a threat! We extend our hand but they extend their fists. How can we handshake?”
Hakan Aygun, a journalist, claims that all the personnel from municipalities and ministries has been obliged to come to the rally and brought there with official vehicles.
The Al-Monitor Pulse said: It is not realistic to expect the Gezi Park protesters and their representatives to be satisfied with the “possibility of a referendum.” The Taksim Platform, consisting of some 80 leading non-governmental organizations orchestrating the resistance, announced it would not agree to a referendum and that it had no intention of evacuating the park.
Erdogan: Tomorrow we hold an Istanbul rally. Let me make this clear. If Taksim is not emptied, police forces will empty it.” #occupygezi
Divide and conquer.
From Facebook today: “PM Erdoğan addressed to the mothers of the protestors and said “call them back to your houses for their own safety”. Mothers answered. They showed up at Taksim Square. Formed a human chain between the police and the protestors. In front of Gezi Park. This is the real “tear” gas.”
Mothers Form Human Chain Between Protestors And Police
Erdogan has called a meeting with a Solidarity Group…not some meaningless actor like he met with before which was a joke.
Tonight there is another concert in Taksim Square. I’m watching it live on DHA. It’s beautiful and watching the people makes me cry.
______________________________________________
Meanwhile in social media…a conversation between two people in Istanbul. I am taking the liberty of posting it here.
The real problem is that his bullshit economic policies are reaching an end. He was expanding credit at 40%/year rate. Eventually you reach your borrowing max and you have to start paying down the debt. It is MAJOR recessionary! Apparently, the number of employed people has dropped by about 5% in the last year. That was what happened over 4 years in the US from 2008-2012. The de-leverage is gonna happen soon and it will get REALLY ugly!
What u have to realize is that the prosperity of the last few years was all bullshit. It was artificially generated by insane borrowing through credit expansion And it would appear that it was the worst kind of borrowing, that is for consumption of mostly foreign goods. Not investment! Remember 2 years ago I said there was gonna be a currency collapse? It didn’t happen because the Saudis are propping up the currency by short term borrowing. They want Turkey to protect them from Iran. I don’t know how long that will last. The economic hardship hasn’t even started yet!
So, does he wanna go before economic recession himself? Why is he provoking people, why does he not give in for a simple request like keeping a park as it is, and instead use excessive police force? How do U.S. politicians look at the issue? Do they want him to go?? They were backing him, but recently it seems that they withdraw their support?? What do you think?
D: As I have told you before, everything I know about Jihadis I learned from my Jewhadi relatives. You gotta understand, they can’t control themselves and they have these tribal instincts that makes them pounce on a chance. He is provoking because he thinks he will win. He is a psychopath. Why back down when a vistory will consolidate his power. The one thing these folks go crazy about is when there is a challenge to their authority. When u are god’s messsenger, any dissent against you is blasphemy. Really quite simple.
As far as U.S. goes, all our leaders are idiots. They will back him as long as they see him as staying in power. Who else r they gonna deal with.
The worst is still yet to come!
After being gassed out of Taksim Square, the government spent the night cleaning up. Just in time for the children to come back with this:
Night After Gassing of Taksim
Gorgeous Photo
By dint of their imagination, humor and self-possession, they are proving themselves to be just the kind of people who should make up the “new” Turkey that Erdogan’s party promised to create when it came to power in 2002. When Erdogan says he hasn’t got an inkling what the children of Taksim want, that may be all too true, but it’s his confusion not theirs.
Andrew Finkel has been a foreign correspondent in Istanbul for over 20 years, as well as a columnist for Turkish-language newspapers. He is the author of the book “Turkey: What Everyone Needs to Know.”
Maybe this is all just taking me back to the days in the 60’s and 70’s when we thought all we needed was love.
In Spanish, the singer is Müge Zerin.
Updated and amended daily since May 29, 2013
I was in Turkey for a month in February staying mainly with locals. My couchsurfing friends there have been criticizing the Prime Minister, Tayyip Erdogan, who has been dismantling the democracy that Ataturk built nearly a 100 years ago. The last democracy in the middle east. The people revere Ataturk. This is of monumental significance for Turkey and for the world because Turkey is a pivotal point between East and West.
I’ve been sitting in front of my computer for 10 days now watching my friends in Turkey post videos and photos on Facebook and twitter. There has been a total blackout of all internal Turkish media so the people have been desperate to get the word out. Subsequently there have been supporting demonstrations all over the world. And the NYT published a crowdsourced full-page ad with the lead: What Is Happening In Turkey?
The Prime Minister wanted to raze Gezi Park in Taksim Square in Istanbul, cutting down ancient trees, to build a shopping mall with the contract going to his son-in-law. After the police routed the demonstrators with tear gas, some kind of yellow gas shot at the people with “water guns”, water shot out of big tanks (TOMAS) and beatings, the resistance turned against the “bulldozer” of a Prime Minister who has become authoritarian…imprisoning army generals and over 200 journalists, controlling the media and all manner of social mandates.
It didn’t really just start with Gezi Park in the minds of the people though. On May 1, Erdogan tried to curtail a traditional day of celebration for children instituted by Ataturk. He stopped public transportation when he saw so many people turning out as a statement of support for Ataturk’s democracy and by implication a judgment on his. And a mandate against public display of affection a couple weeks before Gezi Park resulted in young people turning to public spaces to hold kiss-ins. And his packing important posts with Islamists has been alarming. This has been slowly building and people see their beloved democracy…a beacon of democracy in the Middle East…slipping slowly away.
Gördüm – Bir Gezi Parkı Direnişi Belgesel Filmi / Documentary Film from R H on Vimeo.
Erdogan was elected Mayor of Istanbul in the local elections of 27 March 1994. He was banned from office and sentenced to a ten-month prison term for reciting a poem during a public address in the province of Siirt in 1997. Before his conviction, the fundamentalist Welfare Party was declared unconstitutional and was shut down by the Turkish constitutional court on the grounds of threatening the laicistic order in Turkey. Erdoğan became a constant speaker at the demonstrations held by his party colleagues. With the conviction, Erdoğan was forced to give up his mayoral position. The conviction also stipulated a political ban, which prevented him from participating in parliamentary elections.
He served less than 4 months of the 10 month conviction from 24 March 1999 to 27 July 1999 for reciting the poem, which, under article 312/2 of the Turkish penal code was regarded as an incitement to commit an offense and incitement to religious or racial hatred. It included verses translated as “The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers”. The aforementioned verses, however, are not in the original version of the poem according to Wiki.
Erdoğan established the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) in 2001. From its first year, the AK Party became the largest publicly supported political movement in Turkey and the first single party government. And Turkey has done well economically. However, since then his democratic “reforms” have moved Turkey closer to an authoritarian state.
The ban on lipstick for flight attendants and a 10:00 p.m. ban on alcohol and no display of public affection…all of this is completely contrary to the lifestyle of young secular Turks who are objecting to Erdogan’s attempt to reorganize social structures and his authoritarian style of governing which is bringing religion into the public sector threatening secularism. They feel that he is a megalomaniac looking for a legacy. And they’ve had enough.
However, this article appeared in The Guardian entitled Why the Turkish protests matter to the west. This isn’t just about lipstick – if Turkey can’t reconcile secularism, Islam and democracy, there will be global repercussions
Education is in peril, she says with the lions share of the education budget going to mosques and muslim schools. Freedom of speech and the press has been curtailed. Corruption is rampant. And people are judged on the basis of their piousness. For example women are told to stay at home and have children.
The writer says: As a member of the opposition, what I want is not for the west to intervene in our internal affairs, but for it to stop shielding a government with such little regard for the values of freedom.
Who else will be able to reconcile Islam, secularism and democracy once Turkey fails? What are the global consequences of this failure?
I urge those in the west who believe that Turkey and the globe benefit from a democracy whose fabric is interwoven with religion to look again at what that fabric looks like today – our society’s rights shredded in the name of yet another intolerant majority.
Bear in mind how valuable a secular Turkey is for the world. Do not forfeit the last secularists in the Middle East to the purge that is taking place in the name of democracy, as if a lower level of rights is somehow “good enough” for our region, when you would never accept such restrictions in yours…
This is what I posted on FB:
The U.S. picked out Erdogan when he was a nobody, and even met with him in the States in the 90’s, to run for Prime Minister as a model of moderate Islam and to make Turkey a pivotal point in the struggle between west and east. The U.S. now needs to take him by the collar and explain that democracy doesn’t stop at the ballot box. And take their own advice as well. I’m surprised that I haven’t seen US bashing which is just as well because it would take the focus off Erdogan where it needs to be. Turks are smarter than the average joe around the world. 3 generations raised by Ataturk have seen to that.
The police are on a rampage…beating people at random who aren’t even demonstrating. Someone estimated that there was twice as much tear gas released in Turkey in the last week than all of Europe in 2012. Several thousand have been hospitalized, three have died and nearly a dozen lost an eye. The protestors set up a medical unit in a mosque to treat people. Now Erdogan is telling people that the protestors “attacked the mosque and entered with shoes and beers.” Inciting hatred…the very thing he was imprisoned for years ago.
I’ve never seen so much creativity and humor as I have seen in the videos and graffiti in response. And I lived through the demonstrations against the Viet Nam war. Oaxaca in 2006 could have learned something from the Turks. Instead of just sitting on the sidewalk and knitting, the teachers, during the strike, could have gone out at night to clean up the streets as the Turks are doing with thousands and thousands of tear gas canisters included. They could have tried to use their time striking by walking around informing people…with humor or not…as the Turks are doing. Instead they just alienated the general public who were trying to get to work and lost their support.
When I was in Turkey there was a subterranean heaviness in the people. But they are not afraid now and their hearts are free. Estimates of several million people have turned out in cities all over Turkey…young people, old people, students, unions…even bitter football rivals walking together in solidarity. And political factions from left to right. The Kurds are worried though that all this will interrupt the peace process that Erdogan has been working on. “It’s not good for us Kurds if Erdogan resigns,” said BDP member Erhan Calahan, who has joined the protests. “Our government is in the midst of a peace process. If it changes now, the country could face some turbulent times.” So as usual things are complicated.
Taksim yesterday:
https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=165718356934210
The police have pulled back from Taksim Square because of all the international media cameras.
Meanwhile the demonstrations and police brutality continue in Ankara (the capitol) Adana, Antalya, Antakya, Izmir and 70+ other cities across Turkey. There is still a blackout on Turkish media.
Arriving in Istanbul I was delighted to see smiling, laughing, joking people! I am so tickled to be in Turkey! I had forgotten how open and fun the Turks are…laughing easily and so funny! What a relief from the oppressive atmosphere of Oman where I felt like I had to walk on egg shells!
Much to my surprise, I was met outside the arrival hall by Darrell, a Couchsurfing “friend” that I had corresponded with for several years on one of the forums. I don’t know how Darrell recognized me at the airport…probably the hair. I had no idea he was going to be in Istanbul! So we took a taxi to another couchsurfing friend’s house in Bakirkoy where I was going to stay for 3 nights. Apparently it was a secret kept from me because Dilek knew Darrell was going to be in Istanbul. She had prepared a traditional Turkish meal of rice and lentils and condiments for us and then Darrell left for the Peninsula Hotel in the Sultanahmet area of Istanbul.
It was so much fun meeting Dilek after years of being on the Couchsurfing International Politics forum with her! The first night after Darrell left we stayed up late talking a mile a minute about everything under the sun. I am enjoying her insights. She is the consumate cs host! ! I told her I was enjoying seeing her in her own country…being a Turk!
Dilek and I and Dilek's Childhood Friend Standing
Then the next day Dilek took us on a walk-about to see some of her secret haunts…one being a shop that sold a fermented beverage called Boza…popular in Kazakhstan, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, Albania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, parts of Romania, Serbia, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, according to wikipedia. It is a malt drink, made from maize (corn) and wheat in Albania, fermented wheat in Turkey and wheat or millet in Bulgaria and Romania. It has a thick consistency and a low alcohol content (usually around 1%), and has a slightly acidic sweet flavor. It tasted to Darrell and me like slightly fermented applesauce. It’s supposed to cure everything under the sun and locals often stop by for a glass.
My last and only visit to Istanbul had been in 1995 on our way back to the states after a trek in the mountains of Central Asia. I was astounded at how developed, Istanbul, at least, had become! I certainly don’t remember a tram! Or the train!
I didn’t visit the Blue Mosque or Aya Sofia or the Bazaar or a hamman or the underground Cistern because I had done that in ’95 and wanted to see more of the rest of the city.
I did visit the Suleymaniye mosque which had been closed for restorations since 2008, and since re-opened to the public in November 2012. It’s the largest mosque in Istanbul with four minarets, symbolizing, I am told, the four centuries of imperial Ottoman rule. It’s architecture is a blend of Islamic and Byzantine architectural elements and took 8 years to construct. It combines tall, slender minarets with large domed buildings supported by half domes in the style of the Byzantine church Hagia Sophia which the Ottomans converted into the mosque of Aya Sofya. People going in for prayer now put their shoes into plastic bags and carry them into the mosque with them…leaving them on shoe racks just inside. The women are still made to sit in the very back of the mosque in their own section behind a railing while the men fill the main cavernous interior. It is a bit touching to see so many men washing their faces and hands reverently before entering. It seems a religion for men.
After 3 days with Dilek, I checked in to the Peninsula Hotel so it would be easier to meet up with Darrell for dinner. Darrell was hilarious! We met some delightful travelers in the hotel where Darrell was quick to robustly tell early morning people in a hushed breakfast room that he was a farmer from Indiana and that we were couchsurfers. And then go on to tell them about the people he knew on Couchsurfing!!! Of course he was met with quite quizzical looks! He’s Anabaptist but I think his mission is to get everyone in the world to join Couchsufing! LOL He was off to Uganda after Istanbul. Couchsurfing is his world now.
I stayed in Istanbul an extra day because I had an opportunity to do a walk-about through old neighborhoods near the Spice Market with a young Turk, also a member of Couchsurfing, who had stayed with a Mexican friend of mine in Oaxaca. Onur was really interesting…had lived in Columbia 9 years, traveled all through Mexico, Central and South America and I don’t remember where else. I enjoyed his take on Turkish politics. Turkey is like the U.S. in many ways…very diverse with many minority groups. It is booming economically. At the moment he was in-between jobs as an IT engineer.
OMG, up and down hills! My poor knee! But we stopped to have lunch finally in a working class neighborhood and and I sampled Turkish tripe soup, Işkembe Çorbasi, which was wonderful. Not as sour as the Polish tripe soup and not as spicy as the Mexican Menudo. We were going to go to a Klezmer concert that night at a synagogue but I was beat and literally limped my way to the tram which took me back to my Sultanhamet hotel.
BTW, Sultanhamet, near the Blue and Sofia Mosques and the Grand Bazaar, has completely changed since ’95! Total Tourist! Streets full of smart cafes with white table clothes!!! Many offered a hookah pipe.
So after a week in Istanbul I flew to Antakya just on the mediterranean coast…and about 30 miles from the Syrian border. My plan is to take the 3-hour bus tomorrow to Adana where I will stay with Gursel, a couchsurfer, a couple days before working my way to Antalya where I hope to see Tijen, another couchsurfer, and then to stay with yet another couchsurfer, Gunes, in Bodrum and then fly back to Istanbul from Izmir. I will stay a night with Dilek and pick up my big bag she let me leave in her apartment before flying out to Oregon and back to Oaxaca. Whew! I think when I get to Oaxaca and my own apartment and my own bed I won’t want to leave it for a month!
Dilek, I’m back home again, I blurted as I came tumbling through her door with my baggage in Bakirkoy, Istanbul.
Thankfully the weather turned warm so Dilek and I walked all over Bakirkoy for a few days before catching my Turkish Air flight to Portland Oregon on the 19th. Why do we “catch” a flight or a bus but not a boat? Oh well…
According to political geograpy Turkey is half in Europe and half in Asia. But since it is ethnically and culturally closer to the Middle East I have categorized as such. With its strategic location on the Bosphorus peninsula between the Balkans and Anatolia, the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, Istanbul has been associated with major political, religious and artistic events for more than 2,000 years. Its masterpieces include the ancient Hippodrome of Constantine, the 6th-century Hagia Sophia and the 16th-century Süleymaniye Mosque and other historical sites. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
On the way back from the Kyrgyzstan trek we stayed over a week in Istanbul before taking the plane back to the states.
Staying in a little guesthouse in the Sultanahmet area, we were within walking distance to the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia and the Old Bazaar. I enjoyed a traditional Turkish Bath in a beautiful huge centuries old bath house with stained glass ceiling letting muted sun filter below. I was scrubbed clean by a lady…and then led to lie nude along with other women on a huge slab of marble that was heated from below. Lovely.
An older gentleman from the trek was laying over in Istanbul too and staying in the same guesthouse. We planned on meeting him for a breakfast out but when the time came and went we became concerned. The next day he told us of his “adventure.” He had woken early and decided to walk down to the wharf to watch the fishermen bring in their haul. Unfortunately he met up with a couple guys who decided he was good for a few dollars. They forced him into a car, drove around for a couple hours all the while demanding his wallet. But this old guy was indomitable and stubbornly refused to give it up. Finally, his captors let him out. But he had no idea where he was. It took the better part of the rest of the day for him to find his way back. At least he was left in one piece!
The underground cistern was particularly interesting. No longer used for water, a walkway led past a statue of a head of Medusa…turned upside down and placed under a supporting pillar. Quite the Turk comment on a historical dispute with Greece.
The food was glorious…complex flavors of aubergine, tomato and spices blended perfectly together. Ummmmmm.
But a week in Istanbul…let alone in Turkey…was far too short. I will return.
Laughingnomad 