Turkish police detain 25 over posting on Twitter
Wed Jun 5, 2013 3:22AM GMT
4
Police inTurkey have arrested at least 25 people in the western city of Izmir for posting material on the social networking website, Twitter, as anti-government protests enter the sixth day across the country.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/04/turkey-protests-business-idUSL5N0EG24220130604?type=companyNews
(Reuters) - Garanti Bank, Turkey's third-biggest lender, said on Tuesday a small number of its customers had cancelled credit cards and withdrawn savings in protest at a sister media company's coverage of anti-government demonstrations.
Tens of thousands of people have staged protests in cities across Turkeyand many have complained that domestic broadcasters and newspapers are not adequately covering their action out of fear of government reprisals.
Dogus Holding, which owns a major stake in Garanti, also controls the NTV television station, which has angered the protesters with its coverage.
Several dozen people staged a brief demonstration outside Garanti's Istanbul headquarters on Tuesday.
"Some customers have cancelled their cards and accounts, but it has been limited," Chief Executive Ergun Ozen told Reuters.
He said 35-40 million lira ($18.6-21.2 million) in funds had been withdrawn in the past week, from total accounts of 95 billion, while around 1,500 of Garanti's 8.5 million credit cards had been cancelled.
In the past, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government has levied heavy tax fines and seized the assets of media firms perceived to be critical of his administration. The government has denied any political motivation in such cases.
and.....
and....
http://www.juancole.com/2013/06/defiant-turkish-economy.html
Defiant Erdogan Risks Turkish Economy, as Unions enter the Fray
Posted on 06/04/2013 by Juan Cole
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan is now risking Turkey’s economic miracle by his imperious reaction to the protests in dozens of cities that have roiled Turkey and are entering their fifth day. Two are dead and hundreds injured. The Turkish stock market, which had been up 300% since 2009, has taken a hit. The country’s $29 billion a year tourism industry is also imperiled (Erdogan should ask his friend, Egypt’s President Muhammad Morsi, what social turmoil does to tourism). One of Erdogan’s boasts is that he has attracted billions in foreign investment, and in 2012 foreign direct investment was on the order of $16 billion (Turkey is ranked 13th in the world as a desirable place to put in such money). But he’ll find that investors are skittish about urban street battles.
The news that Turkey’s Public Workers Unions Confederation (KESK),representing coalition of 11 trade unions with 250,000 members has now announced a two-day general strike in sympathy with the protesters signals the entry of an element of class conflict into the movement. The unions in Turkey are weak, having been destroyed by the secular right wing military dictatorship of the 1980s, which had the side effect of also destroying the Turkish Left as a viable political bloc. The ruling center-right Justice and Development Party probably benefited in implementing its pro-market policies from the weakness of unions. The unions and the remains of the Left may see an opportunity for revival.
Erdogan has blamed everyone but himself for the public discontent, decrying the ‘lies’ spread on Twitter, hinting darkly that the opposition party, the secular Republican People’s Party [CHP] had conspired to provoke the protests, and now even saying that the demonstrators are ‘linked to terrorists.’
Erdogan’s theory of what is happening shows an unflattering streak of paranoia and arrogance, and, worse, it is clearly wrong. If a prime minister cannot understand what is happening in his own country, it is a very bad sign.
The protests were sparked by opposition among young people in Istanbul to a plan to get rid of one of that city’s last public green spaces, Gezi Park in the bohemian Taksim area. Erdogan wanted to restore an Ottoman barracks there, and to put a mall in the building. The combination of hero-worship of the Ottoman Empire and retail shopping may seem incongruous, but it symbolizes the Justice and Development Party’s [AKP] platform. The party represents the private Anatolian and some urban business classes who take pride in Turkey’s Islamic and Ottoman past. Its rival, the Republican People’s Party, represents public sector workers, secular intellectuals, the military, and the old Kemalist urban elite tied to Etatism or state-led industrialization and a French-style secularism that views religion with great suspicion and decries the Ottomans as reactionaries. The Republican People’s Party dominated Turkey’s politics for long stretches of the twentieth century, and actively persecuted religious activists like the current prime minister. Decades ago, Erdogan was imprisoned by the Republican People’s Party Establishment for reading out a militant poem with Muslim imagery that made minarets spears. He sees that party and its generals as centers of conspiracy and sedition, and imagines that those young people in the streets are directed by the rival party.
What actually happened is a typical 21st-century networked protest movement with little formal organization and no leadership (i.e. it is acephalous). When police used excessive force against the Gezi Park protesters last Friday, it sparked sympathy demonstrations in Ankara and other cities. The protesters pushed the police out of Taksim Square and occupied it. The youth who are rallying seem most disturbed by police brutality and social regimentation, and it is probably true that they weren’t in the main voters for the ruling AK Party or particularly impressed by the Ottoman Empire or by high end retail. The protests snowballed, reaching 67 cities. The fiercest fighting seems to have often been around bohemias or cafe/ bar districts, public spaces that the religiously-tinged Justice and Development Party has subtly encroached on (it banned alcohol sales after 10 pm and public displays of emotion). Although the media closest to power and the state did little reporting on the demonstrations, social media spread the word, thus incurring Erdogan’s ire.
Neoliberal policies of privatization have had different impacts in different countries. In Argentina they caused economic collapse, and contributed to sparking the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt in 2011. On the other hand, Poland and Turkey seem to have done relatively well with such policies. I doubt anyone entirely understands the differential outcomes, but obviously there are intervening variables beyond those typically considered by the modeling economists who see public sectors as inefficient.
But Turkey could be reaching the limits of public acceptance of its post 2002 model, of social and religious conservatism, vastly expanded foreign trade, and consumerism. Rapid economic and social change always produces discontents. While Erdogan may be right that young people defending their bohemian public spaces are not likely a long term challenge to the government, the entry of labor unions into the fray is much more serious. The protests could be morphing into an anti-Neoliberalism political and social movement of a sort that have shaken governments elsewhere, as with the supplanting of Neoliberals by the leftist Kirchners in Argentina or the defeat of Nicolas Sarkozy by the Socialists in France.
Democracy Now! does a special report on the protests:
and....
http://www.presstv.com/detail/2013/06/04/307091/3-protesters-killed-in-turkey-protests/
At least 3 protesters killed in Turkey protests so far
An injured protester is being carried away during clashes near Taksim Square in Istanbul, Turkey, June 3, 2013.
Tue Jun 4, 2013 6:15AM GMT
11
The protesters say the park, which is a traditional gathering point for rallies and demonstrations as well as a popular tourist destination, is the city's last green public space.”
At least three protesters have been killed in Turkey as clashes between police and anti-government protesters continue in major cities across the country, Press TVreports.
A 22-year-old man, named Abdullah Comert, died at a hospital on Monday after being shot by police during anti-government demonstrations in the southern Turkish province of Hatay, AFP quoted Turkey’s NTV television as saying on Tuesday.
Protests erupted in Istanbul on Friday after security forces attacked a peaceful sit-in protest against the demolition of Gezi Park at Taksim Square.
The protesters say the park, which is a traditional gathering point for rallies and demonstrations as well as a popular tourist destination, is the city's last green public space.
On June 1, Amnesty International said at least two people had been killed and more than a thousand others injured during demonstrations in Istanbul.
The international group criticized the use of excessive force by the Turkish police against the demonstrators, describing it as “disgraceful.” It also said that some protesters have been left blind by the massive quantities of tear gas used by the police.
The Amnesty also said in a report on Monday that 1,500 people had been injured during clashes with riot police in Istanbul over the past days, while at least 414 others were wounded in Ankara. The rights group also said that 420 protesters sustained injuries in demonstrations in the western city of Izmir.
Meanwhile, the Turkish Doctors’ Union said on Monday that a 20-year-old man was killed after a taxi drove into a group of protesters in the Mayis district of Istanbul.
On Monday, the Turkish protesters took to the streets in major cities, including the capital, Ankara, and Istanbul, for the fourth day, calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
On Sunday, thousands of protesters marched on Erdogan's office in Ankara, shouting, “Dictator, resign!” and “We will resist until we win,” and clashed with riot police.
http://rt.com/news/turkey-protester-dead-clashes-183/
Second fatality, thousands injured as police try to curb Turkey protests
Published time: June 04, 2013 03:24
Edited time: June 04, 2013 09:19
Edited time: June 04, 2013 09:19
A second fatality has been confirmed as protests in Turkey enter their fifth day. With several thousands already reported injured Turks continue to flood social media with video, images, and allegations of police brutality.
On Monday, the Union of Turkish Doctors confirmed the death of 22-year-old Abdullah Cömert in the city of Antakya, which is located in the province of Hatay, near Turkey’s border with Syria.
The fatality was the second so far to be confirmed since protests flared up on Friday in Istanbul and Ankara, and sprouted demonstrations nationwide.
Abdullah Cömert, photo from facebook
According to Turkish news reports Cömert died of injuries sustained after being shot by unidentified gunmen, though many users via social media were placing the blame on local police forces.
The BBC has reported that Cömert was a member of the youth wing of the opposition Republican People's Party, but did not speculate as to the exact cause of death.
Earlier on Monday, the Turkish Doctors' Union announced that 20-year-old Mehmet Ayvalitas, the first reported fatality since Friday, was hit by a car in the Mayis district of Istanbul on Sunday.
Though many Turkish social media users again placed blame on police forces for the death of Ayvalitas, any such link had yet to be confirmed. According to the BBC the vehicle in question ignored warnings to stop and ploughed into a crowd of demonstrators.
According to the Turkish Medical Association, which was cited by CNN International on Monday, the violence has so far left 3,195 people injured, with 26 in serious or critical condition.
"There has been unprecedented violence against protesters and social protest," demonstrator Neslihan Ozgunes told CNN on Monday.
No comments:
Post a Comment