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Turkey anti-government protests

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March 27, 2024, 12:55:24 pm Mark says: Shocked Shocked Shocked Shocked  When Hamas spokesman Abu Ubaida began a speech marking the 100th day of the war in Gaza, one confounding yet eye-opening proclamation escaped the headlines. Listing the motives for the Palestinian militant group's Oct. 7 massacre in Israel, he accused Jews of "bringing red cows" to the Holy Land.
December 31, 2022, 10:08:58 am NilsFor1611 says: blessings
August 08, 2018, 02:38:10 am suzytr says: Hello, any good churches in the Sacto, CA area, also looking in Reno NV, thanks in advance and God Bless you Smiley
January 29, 2018, 01:21:57 am Christian40 says: It will be interesting to see what happens this year Israel being 70 years as a modern nation may 14 2018
October 17, 2017, 01:25:20 am Christian40 says: It is good to type Mark is here again!  Smiley
October 16, 2017, 03:28:18 am Christian40 says: anyone else thinking that time is accelerating now? it seems im doing days in shorter time now is time being affected in some way?
September 24, 2017, 10:45:16 pm Psalm 51:17 says: The specific rule pertaining to the national anthem is found on pages A62-63 of the league rulebook. It states: “The National Anthem must be played prior to every NFL game, and all players must be on the sideline for the National Anthem. “During the National Anthem, players on the field and bench area should stand at attention, face the flag, hold helmets in their left hand, and refrain from talking. The home team should ensure that the American flag is in good condition. It should be pointed out to players and coaches that we continue to be judged by the public in this area of respect for the flag and our country. Failure to be on the field by the start of the National Anthem may result in discipline, such as fines, suspensions, and/or the forfeiture of draft choice(s) for violations of the above, including first offenses.”
September 20, 2017, 04:32:32 am Christian40 says: "The most popular Hepatitis B vaccine is nothing short of a witch’s brew including aluminum, formaldehyde, yeast, amino acids, and soy. Aluminum is a known neurotoxin that destroys cellular metabolism and function. Hundreds of studies link to the ravaging effects of aluminum. The other proteins and formaldehyde serve to activate the immune system and open up the blood-brain barrier. This is NOT a good thing."
http://www.naturalnews.com/2017-08-11-new-fda-approved-hepatitis-b-vaccine-found-to-increase-heart-attack-risk-by-700.html
September 19, 2017, 03:59:21 am Christian40 says: bbc international did a video about there street preaching they are good witnesses
September 14, 2017, 08:06:04 am Psalm 51:17 says: bro Mark Hunter on YT has some good, edifying stuff too.
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« Reply #30 on: June 11, 2013, 07:29:45 pm »

Clashes in Istanbul extend into night in Taksim

Riot police fired tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets in day-long clashes that lasted into the early hours Wednesday, overwhelming protesters who had been occupying Istanbul's central Taksim Square and its adjacent Gezi Park in the country's most severe anti-government protests in decades.

The crisis has left Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan looking vulnerable for the first time in his decade in power and has threatened to tarnish the international image of Turkey, a Muslim majority country with a strongly secular tradition, a burgeoning economy and close ties with the United States.

Thousands of police moved in early Tuesday, pushing past improvised barricades set up by the protesters who have swarmed through the massive square and accompanying Gezi Park in their tens of thousands for the past 12 days.

Police fired repeated rounds of tear gas that rose in stinging plumes of acrid smoke from the square in running battles with protesters hurling fireworks, bottles, rocks and firebombs. In a cat-and-mouse game that lasted all day, the police repeatedly cleared the square, only for demonstrators to return.

More than 30,000 converged on the square again as dusk fell and were repelled by water cannon, rubber bullets and tear gas after Istanbul's governor, Huseyin Avni Mutlu, said the police came under attack by "marginal groups."

The area reverberated with the echoes of exploding tear gas canisters into the night, while volunteers ferried dozens of injured people to waiting ambulances.

Early Wednesday, police surrounded Gezi Park, where protesters had set up a tent city, firing repeated rounds of tear gas into the area. Protesters scrambled to flee from the choking chemicals, abandoning tents and belongings. A few dozen gradually returned after the column of riot police had passed, surveying the damage.

A peaceful demonstration against Gezi Park's redevelopment that began more than two weeks ago has grown into the biggest test of Erdogan's authority in his decade of power, sparked by outrage over a violent police crackdown on May 31 against a peaceful sit-in in the park.

The unrest has spread to 78 cities across the country, with protesters championing their objections to what they say is the prime minister's increasingly authoritarian style and his perceived attempts to impose a religious and conservative lifestyle on a country with secular laws — charges he rejects.

Four people have been killed, including a policeman, and about 5,000 have been treated for injuries or the effects of tear gas, according to the Turkish Human Rights Foundation.

Gezi Park, with its thousands of camped-out demonstrators young and old, has become the symbol of the protests. Both the governor and the police initially promised that only Taksim Square would be cleared, not the park.

But late into the night, the governor indicated a more muscular police sweep was imminent.

"We will open the square when everything normalizes in the area, and our security forces completely control the area," Mutlu told A Haber news channel. "Our children who stay at Gezi Park are at risk, because we will clean the area of the marginal groups," he said, referring to what the government has said are troublemakers among the protesters.

"We won't allow our government to be seen as weak," Mutlu said.

Some 300 miles (500 kilometers) away in Ankara, the capital, police fired water cannon and tear gas to disperse several hundred protesters — some throwing stones — who gathered in sympathy with the Istanbul counterparts.

Tuesday's clashes came a day after Taksim saw its smallest gathering since the demonstrations began. The government had said Erdogan would meet with some of those occupying the park on Wednesday to hear their views.

"The relative calm yesterday was deceptive," said Robert O'Daly, Turkey analyst for the Economist Intelligence Unit.

"Mr. Erdogan's offer of dialogue appears to have been merely tactical. The appearance of riot police in the square this morning and renewed use of teargas against the protesters fits better with his defiant rhetoric," he said.

Erdogan, a devout Muslim, says he is committed to Turkey's secular laws and denies charges of an authoritarian manner. As he defended his tough stance, he gave critics little hope of a shift in his position.

"Were we supposed to kneel before them and say, 'Please remove your pieces of rags?'" he asked, referring to the dozens of banners and flags the protesters had festooned in the square. "They can call me harsh, but this Tayyip Erdogan won't change."

Confident of his position of power after winning the last elections in 2011 with 50 percent of the vote, Erdogan has insisted he will prevail. He made it clear that he has come to the end of his patience with the protesters, whom he accused of sullying Turkey's image abroad and being vandals and troublemakers.

"To those who ... are at Taksim and elsewhere taking part in the demonstrations with sincere feelings: I call on you to leave those places and to end these incidents and I send you my love. But for those who want to continue with the incidents I say: 'It's over.' As of now we have no tolerance for them."

"Not only will we end the actions, we will be at the necks of the provocateurs and terrorists, and no one will get away with it," he added.
His words, accompanied by the repeated rounds of tear gas that left many choking for breath, seemed to gird the resolve of many in the park rather than weaken it.

But some protesters also had harsh words for those among the demonstrators who had thrown rocks and firebombs at police during the day.
"They're taking advantage of the situation," said Melda, a 29-year-old cook who rushed to the park Tuesday morning when she heard of the police intervention. Fearful of losing her job for participating in the protests, she asked that her surname not be used. "And then the prime minister calls us all terrorists."

On Tuesday, Erdogan, who has called major pro-government rallies in Ankara and Istanbul this weekend, insisted again that the unrest was part of a conspiracy against his government.

The demonstrators, he said, " are being used by some financial institutions, the interest rate lobby and media groups to (harm) Turkey's economy and (scare away) investments."

http://news.yahoo.com/clashes-istanbul-extend-night-taksim-200345486.html
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« Reply #31 on: June 11, 2013, 07:31:41 pm »

This has gotten almost 24/7 coverage on the MSM today.

I would imagine it would, we have a "democratic" nato country devolving into an Islamic SPRING country. Whos next? France? Denmark?
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« Reply #32 on: June 11, 2013, 07:48:29 pm »

I would imagine it would, we have a "democratic" nato country devolving into an Islamic SPRING country. Whos next? France? Denmark?

Ah...that's what this is all about...
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« Reply #33 on: June 12, 2013, 03:19:44 pm »

Erdoğan's chilling warning: 'these protests will be over in 24 hours'
'We have not responded to punches with punches. From now on security forces will respond differently,' Turkish PM says


 Shocked  Shocked

Turkey's prime minister defied a growing wave of international criticism on Wednesday and issued a chilling warning to the protesters who have captured central Istanbul for a fortnight, declaring that the demonstrations against his rule would be over within 24 hours.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's ultimatum, which he said was conveyed to his police chief and interior minister, ratcheted up the tension in Turkey after a relatively calm day following the mass teargas attacks by riot police in Istanbul city centre on Tuesday evening.

"We have not responded to punches with punches. From now on security forces will respond differently," Erdoğan said after meeting a team said to be representing the protesters for the first time. "This issue will be over in 24 hours."

The sense of a looming denouement at Gezi Park off Taksim Square in central Istanbul was reinforced when a deputy leader of Erdoğan's ruling Justice and Development party (AKP) said the park had to be cleared of demonstrators as soon as possible.

Thousands of protesters again gathered at the park on Wednesday evening, with phalanxes of riot police marshalling nearby.

The ruling party's deputy chairman and government Hüseyin Çelik added that a city-wide referendum could be held on the initial issue that sparked the wave of national protest – whether the park should be demolished to make way for a shopping mall and a replica of an old military barracks.

The belligerent statement, contrasting with more conciliatory language from President Abdullah Gül, who urged dialogue with legitimate peaceful protesters, the vast majority of the tens of thousands who have taken to the streets over the past two weeks.

The sense of a final showdown was reinforced by Istanbul's governor, Hüseyin Avni Mutlu, who ordered the protesters to clear the park for their own "safety".

"Those who attacked [the police] are amongst the young people in Gezi Park … This is why they need to vacate the premises as soon as possible. Families should take their children out of there," he warned.

Protest leaders in the park, however, pledged to stay put as around 1,000 lawyers also took to the streets in an unusual escalation of the demonstrations to complain about the detention of 45 of their colleagues on Tuesday and to voice solidarity with the "resistance".

Activist Tekin Deniz said of the talks in Ankara: "This delegation is made up by the prime minister, it does not represent any of us. These meetings are a joke."

The umbrella group behind the protest uniting dozens of trade and professional associations, Taksim Solidarity, denounced the talks with the prime minister in Ankara as illegitimate.

"No meeting, while the police violence disregarding right to life so relentlessly continues in and around the Gezi Park, will produce results," it said. "We are waiting for you in Gezi Park. We are here and we are not leaving."

In the strongest criticism yet of Erdoğan's hard line, the European Union contradicted the prime minister and voiced support for the protesters, saying they had been largely peaceful and subject to indiscriminate violence from riot police. It demanded an investigation of the extreme reaction, and called on Erdogan to cancel big rallies of his Justice and Development party (AKP) scheduled for the coming weekend.

"There is a real polarisation of opinion. Major AKP rallies in Istanbul and Ankara this weekend would risk adding to the tension when we need to see a de-escalation," said Catherine Ashton, the EU's foreign policy chief.

Guido Westerwelle, the German foreign minister, echoed the message from Brussels.

"We expect Prime Minister Erdoğan to de-escalate the situation and to seek a constructive exchange and peaceful dialogue."

President Gül emphasised that peaceful and violent protesters should not be lumped together. "If people have objections then we need to engage in a dialogue with them. It is our duty to hear what they have to say," he said.

The president and the prime minister, both founders of the AKP and long-term associates, have struck quite different tones over the past 10 days, fuelling speculation of a power struggle or factional disputes at the top of the AKP which has governed Turkey for a decade and remains popular.

In unusually strong criticism of Erdoğan, Ashton said that many people in Turkey felt they were not being listened to.

"We have seen too many examples of excessive police force over the past two weeks – close range use of tear gas, water cannons, pepper spray, plastic bullets – against protesters who have been overwhelmingly peaceful," she said.

In a direct reference to Erdoğan, Ashton added: "Democratically elected governments – even the most successful of them, which have enjoyed three election victories and have half the population's support – still need to take account of the needs and expectations of those who don't feel represented. Peaceful demonstrations are a legitimate way for such groups to express their views."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/12/turkey-prime-minister-raises-fears
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« Reply #34 on: June 17, 2013, 12:03:40 pm »

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/169011#.Ub9A62wo5jo
Turkish Police: Protesters in Taksim Considered Terrorists

Anyone who enters Istanbul’s Taksim Square will be considered a member or a supporter of a terrorist organization, says Turkish minister.

6/17/13

Anyone who enters Istanbul’s Taksim Square will be considered a member or a supporter of a terrorist organization, Turkey’s European Union minister said in a televised interview late last night, according to Hurriyet Daily News.

“I request our citizens who supported the protests until today kindly to return to their homes,” Egemen Bagış said in an interview on broadcast station A Haber.

“From now on the state will unfortunately have to consider everyone who remains there a supporter or member of a terror organization,” he said. “Our prime minister has already assured [activists] about their aim with the protests. The protests from now on will play into the hands of some separatist organizations that want to break the peace and prioritize vandalism and terrorism.”

High-ranking Turkish officials have been posting warnings on the issue and everyone should act accordingly, he said.

Bagış continued to criticize the foreign media for exaggerating the protests.

“Unfortunately, the foreign press has made a big mistake on this issue,” he said, saying that they wanted to reflect Turkey as a country where life has come to a stand-still.

“Hours-long broadcasting that is even not interrupted by commercials has damaged Turkey’s image,” he said.

“But these long broadcasts surely have a financial reason, and this will be revealed. International channels such as BBC and CNN never do such broadcasting without any advertisement. Somebody somehow financed these broadcasts. Like our prime minister said, the losses of the interest rate lobby due to low interest rates have exceeded $650 billion in Turkey,” he maintained, according to Hurriyet Daily News. “This drives them crazy and they are doing everything to disturb the calm in our country and win back their losses.”
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« Reply #35 on: June 17, 2013, 04:06:19 pm »

Turkey threatens to deploy army to end unrest...
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2013/06/201361742432736655.html

Unions prepare strikes...
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/06/17/turkey-protest/2429697/
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« Reply #36 on: June 18, 2013, 08:02:41 am »

Police arrest dozens in raids across Turkey after protests


Police raided addresses across Turkey on Tuesday and detained dozens of people after nearly three weeks of anti-government protests, local media reported.
 
State media TRT said 25 people had been detained in the capital Ankara, 13 in Eskisehir to the west and "many" in Turkey's biggest city Istanbul.

A police source confirmed the operation and said: "For now, only provocateurs will be taken for questioning."

Turkey has been rocked by demonstrations that began in and around Istanbul's Taksim Square and turned violent after police sought to clear protesters using teargas and water cannon.

Clashes have erupted in cities across the country, as people protest against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's leadership.

Erdogan has struck a defiant tone in the face of the biggest public challenge to his 10-year rule, during which he has overseen an economic boom and enjoyed broad popularity.

At a speech on Sunday before hundreds of thousands of supporters in Istanbul he said the disturbances had been manipulated by "terrorists".

Ankara's police anti-terror department said it had no information on the reports of Tuesday's raids.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/18/us-turkey-protests-arrests-idUSBRE95H05120130618
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« Reply #37 on: June 18, 2013, 03:19:37 pm »

Turkey's 'standing man' launches new protest wave

After weeks of sometimes violent confrontation with police, protesters in Turkey have found what could be a more potent form of resistance: standing still.
 
The trend was launched by performance artist Erdem Gunduz, who stood silently for hours in Istanbul's central Taksim Square on Monday night, in passive defiance of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's violent crackdown on environmental protesters at a park adjacent to Taksim. The square has been sealed off from protesters since police cleared it over the weekend, though pedestrians can still enter.
 
As Gunduz stood there, others gradually began to join him — and later to replicate his protest in other cities in a wave of imitation driven by social media.
 
___
 
THE PERFORMANCE
 
Gunduz apparently made no announcement before he paused Monday evening in the square and didn't move. He stood with his hands in his pockets, staring at an image of Turkey's founding father Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, whose admiration is rooted in his success in imposing secular values on a largely Muslim nation after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire 90 years ago.
 
When police arrived an hour later, Turkish news media reported, they searched his pockets and his backpack, then left.
 
Gunduz stayed put. For hours.
 
When asked by reporters what he was doing, Turkish news agency Dogan said, he responded: "It's evident. The people are not being allowed into Taksim."
 
Witnesses began calling him "duran adam" — "standing man." Some joined him in Taksim, while others began doing the same in other Turkish cities. In Ankara, the capital, a woman stood still at the spot where a protester had been killed.
 
Early Tuesday morning, police intervened and dispersed the crowd around Gunduz, detaining several protesters. It wasn't clear whether Gunduz was among those arrested, though he was free later Tuesday. Later Tuesday, others returned and began silent vigils.
 
___
 
STANDING MAN
 
Patrick Adams, an American freelance journalist, said his friend and neighbor is a dancer originally from Izmir, Turkey's third-largest city. Gunduz has a degree in fine arts, he said, and has been doing street performances for years.
 
Adams said he doesn't know Gunduz to be politically active, but isn't surprised by his silent act.
 
"He's completely courageous," Adams said.
 
Adams said Gunduz sent him a message Tuesday to say that he was at home and doing fine. Gunduz couldn't be reached directly.
 
___
 
THE EFFECT
 
Gunduz's act, amplified by social media, had a remarkably swift effect on the protests.
 
Erdogan appeared to be seizing the initiative after large weekend rallies in which he ordered Taksim Square to be cleared. The government has capitalized on sporadic scenes of violence amid the generally peaceful protest movement.
 
Gunduz's act of non-violence could be harder to deal with, as it could pressure the government to arrest or disperse people who are doing nothing more than standing still.
 
Interior Minister Muammer Guler said authorities wouldn't intervene against any demonstration that doesn't threaten public order, but that pledge could be tested quickly.
 
Activists called for a nationwide standing protest later Tuesday.
 
"We need to congratulate him (Gunduz)," said Ozgur Volkan, who joined the standing protesters in Taksim. "He started up a very great movement."

http://news.yahoo.com/turkeys-standing-man-launches-protest-wave-140305653.html
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« Reply #38 on: June 19, 2013, 10:18:11 am »

http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Turkey-PM-Erdogan-welcomes-Hamas-leaders-317006
Turkey's Erdogan welcomes Hamas leaders
6/19/13

As European Union cancels a parliamentary visit to Ankara, Erdogan hosts Hamas heads Mashaal, Haniyeh.

Even as the EU canceled a parliamentary visit to Ankara scheduled for Wednesday, and UN Secretary-General Ban Kimoon criticized Turkey for its handling of the recent protests, embattled Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday welcomed Hamas leaders Khaled Mashaal and Ismail Haniyeh for meetings in the Turkish capital.

It was not immediately clear if the arrival of the Hamas leaders was in lieu of a visit Erdogan has said he intended to make to Gaza.

Shortly after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu phoned Erdogan in March to apologize for operational errors that might have caused loss of life on the i, Erdogan announced he would visit Gaza in April. The planned visit, which annoyed the US because it seemed to undermine the Palestinian Authority, was then pushed off until after Erdogan’s mid-May visit to Washington.

No new date has yet been announced, although Erdogan has said he intends to go through with the visit despite American objections.

Officials in both the Prime Minister’s Office and the Foreign Ministry refrained from commenting on the Hamas leaders visit to Ankara.

The Turkish daily Today’s Zaman said Mashaal and Haniyeh were scheduled to meet Erdogan late Tuesday. The “Palestinian Embassy” in Ankara told the paper they were not informed by either Ankara or Hamas about the visit beforehand.

Today’s Zaman speculated that the Hamas leaders were looking for Turkish help in reconciling differences inside the organization between one camp interested in aligning itself with Iran and Syria, and another which wanted to move closer to Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

While Israel has been careful not to comment on either Erdogan’s crackdown on the protests or at his hints of a Jewish conspiracy behind them, the American Jewish Committee had no such compunctions, issuing a statement saying it was “deeply dismayed” by comments of Erdogan and others in Turkey suggesting Jews were behind the protests.

“Incendiary words have consequences,” said AJC executive director David Harris, who urged Turkey’s political leadership and media to end “the fictitious conspiracy theories.”

In a letter to Turkey’s ambassador to the United States, according to an AJC statement, the organization expressed concern about Erdogan’s “delusional prejudices” regarding Jews. Erdogan recently suggested that unrest in Turkey could be attributed to “the interest-rate lobby,” a term that has been associated in the Turkish media in the past with an alleged conspiracy of Jewish businessmen.

“Whatever protests and opposition Prime Minister Erdogan may face domestically, they are home-grown,” said Harris.

“To blame such disturbances on external forces and to resort to age-old Jewish conspiracy canards is pure cowardice and runs the risk of incitement. Erdogan should be called to task by responsible world leaders for such crude tactics rather than facing up to the reality that a significant segment of the Turkish public is challenging his increasingly authoritarian rule.”
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« Reply #39 on: June 19, 2013, 01:59:54 pm »

Turkey has all but fallen into an Islamic state.
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« Reply #40 on: June 23, 2013, 08:18:08 am »

http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Clashes-in-Istanbul-after-Erdogan-says-protests-serve-Turkeys-enemies-317382
Clashes in Istanbul after Erdogan says protests serve Turkey's enemies
By REUTERS
06/22/2013 21:02

Riot police, and thousands of protesters clash in Taksim Square for first time in nearly a week.

The crowd quickly scattered, and water cannon trucks parked at several entry points to Taksim to prevent people from regrouping.

People living around the square banged pots and pans, a sign of solidarity with protesters throughout more than three weeks of unrest in Istanbul and other cities across Turkey. Demonstrators shouted "Police, don't betray your people!".

Shortly before the water cannon were fired, protesters had been throwing red carnations in the direction of a line of riot police as it moved slowly towards them to clear the area. 

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told thousands of supporters in the Black Sea city of Samsun on Saturday that weeks of often violent protests against his government had played into the hands of Turkey's enemies.

As he finished speaking, around 10,000 protesters had gathered in Istanbul's Taksim Square, many of them to attend a planned laying down of carnations in memory of the four people who had been killed in the unrest.

The mood at the scene of some of the fiercest clashes between demonstrators and police firing teargas and water cannon was initially calm, with hundreds of riot police looking on as the crowd chanted "this is just the start, the struggle will continue".

In Samsun, a crowd of some 15,000 of Erdogan's AK Party faithful cheered and waved Turkish flags as he called on the public to give their answer to protests at the ballot box when Turkey holds municipal elections next March.

The rally in the party stronghold was the fourth in a series of mass meetings which Erdogan has called since demonstrations began in Istanbul at the start of June in an unprecedented challenge on the streets to his rule.

The blunt-talking 59-year-old said opponents both within Turkey and abroad had orchestrated the demonstrations, saying an "interest rate lobby" of speculators in financial markets had benefited from the unrest.

"Who won from these three weeks of protests? The interest rate lobby, Turkey's enemies," Erdogan said from a stage emblazoned with his portrait and a slogan calling for his supporters to "thwart the big game" played out against Turkey.

"Who lost from these protests? Turkey's economy, even if to a small extent, tourism lost. They overshadowed and stained Turkey's image and international power," he said.

In a speech appealing to his conservative grassroots support, Erdogan made fresh accusations that those involved in the protests in Turkey's main western cities were disrespectful towards Islam, the religion of the vast majority of Turkey.

"Let them go into mosques in their shoes, let them drink alcohol in our mosques, let them raise their hand to our headscarved girls. One prayer from our people is enough to frustrate their plans," Erdogan said, before tossing red carnations to the crowd after his speech.

TURKISH SOCIETY POLARISED?

The protests have underlined divisions in Turkish society between religious conservatives who form the bedrock of Erdogan's support, and more liberal Turks who have swelled the ranks of peaceful demonstrators.

Erdogan, who won his third consecutive election in 2011 with 50 percent support, has been riled by the open show of dissent, and sees himself as a champion of democratic reform.

During his 10-year rule, which has seen him unchallenged on the political stage, he has enacted reforms that include curbing powers of an army that toppled four governments in four decades and pursuing an end to 30 years of Kurdish rebellion.

But he brooks little dissent. Hundreds of military officers have been jailed on charges of plotting a coup against Erdogan.

A court near Istanbul said on Friday it will announce on Aug. 5 its verdict on nearly 300 defendants, including academics, journalists and politicians, accused of separate plots to overthrow the government.

But among the large section of Turkey's 76 million people who do not back him, Erdogan is viewed as increasingly authoritarian and too quick to meddle in their private lives.

Recent restrictions on the sale of alcohol have fuelled their suspicions that he has a creeping Islamist agenda.

That resentment spilled into open protest when police cracked down on a group of environmentalists opposed to his plans to develop a central Istanbul park in late May, spreading to other cities and turning violent night after night.

Sporadic clashes have continued in some cities this week, but Istanbul has been calm as many people adopted a silent show of defiance inspired by the so-called "Standing Man" protester.

On Sunday, Erdogan will address a rally in the eastern city of Erzurum, also an AK Party stronghold.
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« Reply #41 on: July 02, 2013, 10:29:26 am »

Turkish PM on unrest: Jews!

 Roll Eyes

Turkish deputy prime minister denies remarks on 'Jewish diaspora'

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Beşir Atalay has denied media reports that he blamed the Jewish diaspora for the Gezi unrest.

Atalay’s press office said in a written statement today that the minister had not used such an expression.

“There are some circles that are jealous of Turkey’s growth. They are all uniting, on one side the Jewish diaspora,” Cihan News Agency quoted him in a video as saying on July 1 in the Central Anatolian province of Kırıkkale in an earlier report.

Before the statement from Atalay’s office, the Turkish Jewish community issued a press release on its website, saying they were trying to obtain more information about the remarks with regard to the details, meaning and content.

“We would like to express our concern that all Jews around the world, including Turkish Jews, may become the target because of this sort of generalization in almost every situation,” the statement read.

Atalay also reportedly repeated government claims that the international media had played a big role in “the conspiracy” and had led the unrest “well.” “The ones trying to block the way of Great Turkey will not succeed,” he said.

“There are some circles that are jealous of Turkey’s growth. They are all uniting, on one side the Jewish diaspora. You saw the foreign media’s attitude during the Gezi Park incidents; they bought it and started broadcasting immediately, without doing an evaluation of the [situation],” Atalay is heard in a video shooting also seen by the Daily News.

The Gezi protests started May 27, triggered by Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality’s plan to remove a unique green area, Gezi Park, next to the iconic Taksim Square to build a replica of Ottoman artillery barracks and mall.

A sit-in by peaceful protesters turned into mass protests across the country with nearly 2 million people in 79 of the 81 Turkish cities attending, according to Interior Ministry estimates.

The heavy crackdown by the police with tear gas, water cannons and violent tools drew reaction from local citizens and the world. In total, four people – three protesters and a police officer – have been killed and more than 7,000 people injured, according to the Turkish Medical Association. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has repeatedly blamed an “interest rate lobby” and the world media for boosting the protests.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/jewish-diaspora-behind-gezi-protests-turkish-deputy-prime-minister-says.aspx?pageID=238&nID=49858&NewsCatID=338#.UdK96Re4HbM.twitter
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« Reply #42 on: December 23, 2013, 06:26:58 am »

Istanbul clashes as Turkey PM Erdogan condemns 'plot'

Turkish police have used tear gas against thousands of anti-government protesters in Istanbul as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to break the hands of "plotters". Clashes erupted between protesters and police in Kadikoy Square... In a northern town Mr Erdogan denounced people he said were setting anti-Turkish "traps" to undermine his rule. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25491341
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« Reply #43 on: March 11, 2014, 03:51:45 pm »

Turkish police using water cannons, tear gas against protesters in Istanbul marching over teen's death - @HDNER

Photo: Turkish protests march in remembrance of a teen who died 9 months after he was struck by a canister fired by police - Instagram's trnsmg

Video: Turkish police rushing to the scene of protests in Kadıköy area of Istanbul - Instagram user isikcant
http://www.breakingnews.com/

Police in Kadıköy district of Istanbul using tear gas to clear streets - Instagram user cansuusari

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« Reply #44 on: March 28, 2014, 12:18:48 pm »

Turkey bans YouTube after Syria security talk leaked

Turkey banned YouTube on Thursday after the video-sharing website was used to spread damaging leaked audio files from a state security meeting debating possible military action in Syria.

The recording purports to be of senior Turkish government, military and spy officials discussing plans to stage an armed clash in Syria or a missile attack that would serve as a pretext for a military response.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan -- already ensnared in a corruption scandal and hit by recent mass protests ahead of crucial local elections on Sunday -- angrily lashed out at his political opponents for leaking the recording.

"They have leaked something on YouTube today," he told a campaign rally in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir. "It was a meeting on our national security. It is a vile, cowardly, immoral act. We will go into their caves. Who are you serving by eavesdropping?"

Erdogan did not mention his foe by name, but he has in the past used the "cave" reference for his former ally-turned-nemesis, US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whose movement has many followers in the Turkish police and judiciary.

The premier last week banned Twitter, sparking international condemnation, after the micro-blogging service was used to spread a spate of other audio files implicating Erdogan and his inner circle in corruption.

An Ankara court Wednesday overturned that ruling as a limit on free speech. Turkey's telecommunications regulator TIB has 30 days to appeal the decision, and Twitter has yet to be restored, although the ban has been widely circumvented.

- YouTube 'national security threat' -

NATO-member Turkey's European and American allies condemned the YouTube ban.

"This is another desperate and depressing move in Turkey," tweeted European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes.

Deputy State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said the US had been "very strongly saying (to Turkish officials) that they need to stop doing this".

Thursday's YouTube leak is the first to focus on national security. Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu labelled it "a declaration of war against the Turkish state and nation", while his ministry said some sections had been distorted.

TIB said it was blocking YouTube on the grounds of a "primary threat against national security," private NTV television reported.

- 'Justification can be fabricated' -

The audio recording, which could not be independently verified, features a voice that sounds like that of Turkey's spy chief Hakan Fidan saying: "If needed, we will launch an attack there."

The voice also talks about dispatching "four men" and launching missiles, adding: "It is not a problem. A justification can be fabricated."

The discussion also focuses on a historic site inside war-torn Syria that is technically part of Turkish national territory under an historic treaty.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militant group has threatened to attack the site -- a tomb of Suleyman Shah, grandfather of Ottoman Empire founder Osman -- which is located in Aleppo province.

Another voice, purportedly of Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu, is heard saying that "from the point of legitimacy, the whole world would stand by us in case of an operation against ISIL".

Erdogan's parliamentary opponents have in the past accused him of planning military action in Syria to distract voters from his domestic troubles.

Main opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu this month warned that Erdogan "could decide to move the army into Syria before the elections" and cautioned the military against it, saying: "Don't send Turkey on an adventure."

Davutoglu told AFP on Wednesday that "Turkey is ready to take any legitimate step under international law if its national security, including the area where the tomb of Suleyman Shah is situated, is threatened".

In the recording, a voice allegedly belonging to Davutoglu is heard saying: "Between you and me, the prime minister said over the telephone that this (attack) should be used as an opportunity when needed."

http://news.yahoo.com/turkey-bans-youtube-twitter-154018281.html;_ylt=AwrTWfycSTRTzxkAxX_QtDMD
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« Reply #45 on: March 30, 2014, 06:05:42 am »

Turkey PM Erdogan faces test in local election

People in Turkey are voting in local elections that analysts say could determine the political future of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. They are the first elections since mass protests erupted last June and a corruption scandal hit the government.   

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26807067
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« Reply #46 on: May 01, 2014, 05:10:02 am »

Huge police operation in Istanbul ahead of May Day protests; 39,000 police on city streets, 19,000 in Taksim area, reports say - @JoeWSJ

Update: Police fire tear gas and water cannon to block May Day protesters in Istanbul from reaching Taksim Square - @Reuters

Police barricades surround Galatasary Square in Istanbul on May Day - @ibnezra

Tear gas and water cannon in the streets of Istanbul - @SaraFirth_RT

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« Reply #47 on: May 15, 2014, 02:22:12 pm »

Turkey outraged as PM’s aide kicks protester



In this photo taken Wednesday, May 14, 2014 a person identified by Turkish media as Yusuf Yerkel, advisor to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, kicks a protester already held by special forces police members during Erdogan’s visiting Soma, Turkey. Erdogan was visiting the western Turkish mining town of Soma after Turkey’s worst mining accident . AP Photo/Depo Photos) TURKEY OUT ONLINE

rest: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/turkey-outraged-as-pms-aide-kicks-protester/2014/05/15/dc4d1c80-dc36-11e3-a837-8835df6c12c4_story.html
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« Reply #48 on: May 05, 2016, 07:53:05 pm »

Turkey PM Ahmet Davutoglu to quit amid reports of Erdogan rift

Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu says he will stand down at an extraordinary congress of his ruling AK Party later this month.

Mr Davutoglu is believed to have fallen from favour because he disapproved of Mr Erdogan's plans to move Turkey to a presidential system of government.

But in a speech, Mr Davutoglu pledged his loyalty to President Erdogan, saying he bore no anger against anyone.

His successor will be chosen when the congress meets on 22 May.

Leadership split spoils the party

Recep Tayyip Erdogan - Turkey's bruised battler

Earlier on Thursday, presidential aide Cemil Ertem said there would be no snap elections following the appointment of a new leader.

He also told Turkish TV that the country and its economy would stabilise further "when a prime minister more closely aligned with President Erdogan takes office".
Brutal end: Analysis by Mark Lowen, Turkey correspondent

When the end came, it was swift and brutal. Ahmet Davutoglu bowed out after crossing the man with the real power: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Mr Davutoglu was expected to be a pliant prime minister but disagreed with some of Mr Erdogan's more controversial policies and crucially wavered in his support to change the constitution to boost the president's powers.

His resignation means Mr Erdogan tightens his control of Turkey and is likely to install a more obedient prime minister. It will worry many Western leaders who find the divisive Mr Erdogan difficult to handle.

And it plunges this crucial country into a political crisis amid security threats and rows over the clampdown on human rights and free speech. The message from President Erdogan to Mr Davutoglu's successor is clear: follow my lead or you'll face the same fate.

Read more from Mark

Mr Davutoglu met Mr Erdogan for nearly two hours on Wednesday but differences were clearly not resolved.

Mr Davutoglu said he would continue as a party legislator and would not try to divide the AKP.

"I feel no reproach, anger or resentment against anyone," he said.

"No-one heard, or will ever hear, a single word from my mouth, from my tongue or my mind against our president."
Why is this happening now?

After he was elected president in 2014, Mr Erdogan hand-picked Mr Davutoglu to succeed him as head of the AK Party (Justice and Development Party).

But the prime minister's unease with Mr Erdogan's plans to move to a presidential system, among other policies, has been evident in recent months.

In a sign of his weakening influence, Mr Davutoglu was stripped last week of the authority to appoint provincial AK Party officials.

What will this mean for Turkey?

The development comes at a time of increasing instability for Turkey, which is tackling an escalating conflict with the rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), attacks by the so-called Islamic State, and an influx of migrants and refugees.

Turkey is also in the midst of implementing a key deal with the European Union, brokered by Mr Davutoglu, to limit the number of refugees flowing across its border in return for accelerated EU accession talks and financial aid.

The future of that agreement, which Mr Davutoglu was seen as having agreed with little input from the president, could be plunged into doubt by his departure.
Who will be his successor?

Among those tipped as successors to Mr Davutoglu are Transport Minister Binali Yildirim, who is close to Mr Erdogan, and Energy Minister Berat Albayrak, who is the president's son-in-law.

The leader will be formally elected at the party congress.
What has been the fall-out?

Main opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu said Mr Davutoglu had been forced from office through the "will of one person".

"Davutoglu's resignation should not be perceived as an internal party issue, all democracy supporters must resist this palace coup," he said.

The political uncertainty also rattled the financial markets. The Turkish lira suffered its heaviest daily loss on Wednesday, down almost 4% against the US dollar.

It rallied slightly on Thursday but was still well off its previous trading levels.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36213401
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« Reply #49 on: May 06, 2016, 10:34:48 pm »

A dictatorship in the making?

Recep Tayyip Erdogan maneuvered to force out Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, demonstrating that the powerful president does not need the strong executive presidency he seeks since he already wields almost absolute power.

This is the latest sign that Erdogan has consolidated power to such an extent that he can do almost anything he wants. He and his AK Party are working to Islamize the state and its foreign policy all the while continuing to crack down on the media and purge members of the judiciary and police.

Davutoglu apparently became too powerful and independent for Erdogan’s liking and it is almost assured that his replacement will be even more of a sycophant.

This also is a sign that the more power Erdogan acquires, the more erratic his behavior becomes.

“There seems to be a rushed feeling to it, that it happened in the middle of the week and not on the weekend when the stock market is closed,” Dr. Aykan Erdemir, a member of the Turkish parliament from 2011 to 2015 and a senior fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told The Jerusalem Post in an interview.

The stock market dropped 7 percent in the past week and this “doesn’t fit Erdogan’s narrative of stability,” he said, adding that Erdogan appears to be relying on a small group of close aides.

According to speculation in the Turkish media, the prime minister was not completely following Erdogan’s line and this became a problem since he demands full loyalty and compliance, Erdemir said.

Domestically, Erdogan probably lost confidence that Davutoglu would successfully push through the constitutional change required to put in place an executive presidential system.

In the international arena, the Turkish president “was unhappy with the prime minister’s growing profile and his active EU policies, which leveraged relations with Turkey with himself and against Erdogan.”

Furthermore, Davutoglu had planned to meet with President Barack Obama in private, in contrast to Erdogan’s failure to schedule such a meeting on his visit to the US at the beginning of April.

“Davutoglu’s better reception in DC made Erdogan furious, people say,” continued Erdemir.

“At the end of this month Davutoglu will be replaced with a ‘yes man,’” he said, adding that Erdogan’s son-in-law, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Berat Albayrak, or the president’s longtime ally Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications Minister Binali Yildirim, could receive the post.

Asked about the constitutionality of the dismissal of the prime minister, Erdemir responded that the latest move is 100 percent against the constitution because the president is supposed to be nonpartisan and not involved in party politics.

“Erdogan is no longer a member of the AKP and so he cannot have a say in its internal affairs,” the former Turkish parliament member asserted.

“In the past Turkey had military coups, but I call this a palace coup,” said Erdemir.

“Davutoglu likely got overconfident and started acting independently, forgetting what a control freak Erdogan is.”

Asked what former academic Davutoglu’s future might hold, Erdemir speculated that just like other politicians who fell out with Erdogan, he could be offered a cushy job where the president can keep an eye on him.

Questioned as to anything Davutoglu could do to resist, Erdemir replied that “he is probably looking into how he can fight back, but he knows his chances are nil because of his weak support within AKP, which is to a great extent loyal to Erdogan.”

There is already a de facto executive presidential system, argued Erdemir, adding that “there has never been a more powerful leader in Turkish history.”

The checks and balances are gone and now it can be expected that the government will move forward with plans to revoke parliamentary immunity of pro-Kurdish deputies it deems are supporting terrorism, and will brutally crack down on all dissidents, he said.

http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/A-dictatorship-in-the-making-453297
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« Reply #50 on: May 15, 2016, 05:56:48 pm »

Turkish right-wing dissidents' bid to oust party leader foiled

Members of Turkey's right-wing MHP party were prevented from holding a congress Sunday aimed at unseating longtime leader Devlet Bahceli and recovering ground lost to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's party.

Dissidents from the Nationalist Movement Party launched a campaign to oust Bahceli, 68, after a general election in November in which the party shed half its support -- taking just 40 seats in the 550-member parliament compared to 80 five months previously.

Bahceli, who has led the party for 19 years, said in January that the next party congress would take place in 2018, meaning he would be in charge until then.

But polls show MHP members hungry for change, with over 500 signing a petition in support of holding an extraordinary congress to expedite his ouster.

In a show of unity, MHP's four contenders for leadership, including charismatic former interior minister Meral Aksener, arrived Sunday near the Ankara hotel -- the venue of the congress -- in the same vehicle, escorted by hundreds of cars.

But they faced iron barricades, with police stationing water cannon nearby and denied entry into the hotel.

"Party congresses not party leaders will have the final say," the four candidates said in a joint declaration, near the police barricades.

"Turkish democracy and law were trampled upon," they said.

Party members waving Turkish flags outside the hotel shouted "Bahceli, resign!".

Replacing Bahceli, who lacks appeal with younger voters, could boost support for the MHP at the expense of Erdogan's conservative ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

The outcome could jeopardise Erdogan's ambitions of winning a big enough majority in the next elections to allow him to change the constitution to boost his powers.

- Party congress in June -

Four contenders to succeed Bahceli have emerged, including 59-year-old Aksener, a former deputy speaker of parliament seen as the strongest candidate.

They have vowed to press ahead with the congress, despite the legality of the meeting being called into question and police sealing off the venue.

"There is no such security measure even at the Syrian border," another dissident candidate Sinan Ogan told reporters.

The country's highest appeal court said this week it will rule on the issue within a month, while two lower courts have issued conflicting decisions.

Aksener refused to leave the scene unless she was granted a written official document that they were barred from entry, to use in their legal battle.

Koray Aydin, one of Bahceli's rivals, said on Sunday they would wait for the appeals court's ruling and hold a congress in June in a bid to quash a party law banning leadership change at extraodinary congresses.

MHP lawyer Yucel Bulut said this week holding a congress was "legally impossible" and Ankara governor's office said it would ban the gathering.

Bahceli's challengers accused the government of interfering in the legal process -- allegations Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag dismissed Saturday as "slander".

The AKP needs the support of MHP lawmakers to change the constitution to fulfil Erdogan's ambitions of having a US-style executive presidency.

Like the AKP, the MHP draws its support mainly from conservative Turks in Anatolia and the Black Sea region.

Established in 1969, it was an ultra-radical formation in the 1970s and 80s, with its armed Grey Wolves wing operating death squads that killed numerous left-wing activists and students.

Bahceli took control of the MHP in 1997, seeking to turn it into a mainstream political movement.

The party vehemently opposes any peace deal with the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) that the army is battling in the southeast.

Bahceli said this month that Erdogan could be sure of the MHP's full support on security as long as the "fight against terrorism continues non-stop."

https://www.yahoo.com/news/wing-turkey-party-bid-oust-longtime-leader-033417332.html?nhp=1
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« Reply #51 on: May 23, 2016, 08:38:08 pm »

Turkey shifts to presidential system dictatorship, even without constitutional change

As Turkey's incoming prime minister prepares to name his new cabinet, there is little doubt that its primary role will be to rubber-stamp what has already become reality: a shift to a full presidential system with Tayyip Erdogan firmly in charge.

Erdogan on Sunday confirmed Binali Yildirim, a close ally for two decades and a co-founder of the ruling AK Party, as his new prime minister, ensuring government loyalty as he pursues constitutional change to replace Turkey's parliamentary democracy with an executive presidency.

Yildirim's appointment will stamp out any vestiges of resistance in the AKP to Erdogan's plans, three senior party officials said, forecasting that the new cabinet, expected to be announced on Tuesday, would contain only loyalists.

"We have entered a period of a 'de facto' presidential system, where Erdogan's policies will be implemented very clearly," one of the officials said, predicting five or six ministerial changes from the existing team.

"They will lead to complete harmony between Erdogan and the cabinet ... Erdogan’s decisions will be implemented without being touched," the official said, speaking anonymously because the final decision on the appointments has not yet been made.

Erdogan and his supporters see an executive presidency - a Turkish take on the system in the United States or France - as a guarantee against the sort of fractious coalition politics that hampered Turkey's development in the 1990s, when it was an economic backwater with little clout on the world stage.

His opponents, and skeptical Western allies, fear growing authoritarianism. Prosecutors have opened more than 1,800 cases against people for insulting Erdogan since he became president in 2014. Opposition newspapers have been shut and journalists and academics critical of government policies sacked.

European Parliament President Martin Schulz criticized Erdogan's accumulation of power in comments published on Monday, describing it as a "breathtaking departure from European values" in a nation negotiating for membership of the EU.

"We see Turkey under Erdogan on its way to being a one-man-state," he told German newspaper Koelner Stadtanzeiger.

He said the European Parliament would not begin debating visa-free travel for Turks to Europe, a quid pro quo for Ankara's help in curbing illegal migration, until Turkey fulfilled all the criteria including amending its sweeping anti-terrorism laws, which Erdogan has resolutely refused to do.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has faced criticism for brokering the migration deal with Turkey despite its rights record, said she stressed in a meeting with Erdogan on Monday the need for strong independent institutions.

"I've made clear in the conversation today that I also think we need an independent judicial system, we need independent media and we need a strong parliament," she said, after a meeting on the sidelines of a humanitarian summit in Istanbul.

In a sign of the possible turbulent relations to come with Brussels, Erdogan's economic advisor Yigit Bulut warned Ankara could suspend all of its agreements with the European Union if it failed to "keep its promises".

MASTER MANEUVERER

Erdogan has made clear he wants to seek legitimacy for the presidential system, which will require constitutional change, via a referendum. To do that, he will need the support of at least 330 members of the 550-strong parliament, and unwavering backing from the AKP grass roots on the campaign trail.

Outgoing Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was seen as too lackluster a supporter of Erdogan's ambitions. By replacing him, Erdogan aims to unify the AKP just as the nationalist opposition is embroiled in a damaging leadership row and the pro-Kurdish opposition faces the risk of its members being prosecuted after their parliamentary immunity was removed last week.

"Now the road to changing the constitution to include a presidential system is completely open," a second senior AKP official told Reuters.

Popular support for such constitutional change is unclear, with a recent IPSOS poll putting it at just 36 percent. The ORC research firm was meanwhile cited in the pro-government Daily Sabah newspaper as putting it at 58 percent.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/turkey-shifts-presidential-system-even-without-constitutional-change-130553774--business.html
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« Reply #52 on: July 15, 2016, 08:12:38 pm »

COUP IN TURKEY
MILITARY CLAIMS CONTROL


http://news.sky.com/story/turkish-military-says-it-has-taken-over-country-10503039

ERDOGAN ON THE BRINK...
http://news.trust.org/item/20160715202915-erczs

URGES PEOPLE TO TAKE TO STREETS...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/15/turkey-low-flying-jets-and-gunfire-heard-in-ankara1/

PARLIAMENT SURROUNDED BY TANKS...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/15/turkey-low-flying-jets-and-gunfire-heard-in-ankara1/

Angry Turks drag commander out of turret, beat him...
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/breaking-gunfire-reported-ankara-military-8431911

FALL OF ISLAMIST GOVT?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3692693/Turkish-military-launch-attempted-coup-depose-government.html

OBAMA ADMIN CAUGHT OFF GUARD...
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/world/article89937372.html

TIMELINE...
http://news.trust.org/item/20160715223913-zyv7c

Military staged coups in 1960, 1971 and 1980, and intervened in 1997...
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/16/world/europe/military-attempts-coup-in-turkey-prime-minister-says.html

SKYNEWS: LIVE...
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« Reply #53 on: July 18, 2016, 06:55:43 pm »

I was swimming with the family when most of this went down but one of the first talking heads i saw was James Woolsey talking at length about how this could have all been staged by Erdogan to create an Islamic State. Sounds good to me and thats exactly what it looks like. Erdogan put down those revolts a year ago and now purged the rest of his government. 

The Worst (Fake?) Coup Ever Has Enthroned Erdogan As A Dictator And Has Sealed Turkey’s Fate

What just happened in Turkey?  I have been thinking about this for a number of hours now, and I have narrowed it down to two options.  Either this was the worst military coup in my entire lifetime, or it was staged.  I will explain how I came to this conclusion below, but in any event the end result of this “coup” is that President Erdogan is even more popular and has consolidated power to an extent that is absolutely breathtaking.  He already was essentially a dictator, but now this “coup” has sealed Turkey’s fate and has pushed them even farther down the path toward becoming a radical Islamic state.

If you are going to conduct a military coup, the very first thing that should be on your list is to decapitate the current leadership structure.  But even though hundreds were killed and approximately 1,400 people were injured during the short-lived conflict, not a single high ranking official was killed or captured.

I don’t know if I have ever heard of a coup where that didn’t happen.  How do you not get a single high ranking official?  Either the planners of this coup were completely incompetent, or it was fake.  And yes, it is entirely possible that only a small portion of the military was involved and this effort represented the best that they could do to try to rescue Turkey from the grip of a ruthless dictator.  Maybe they were hoping that once they lit a spark the public would rally to their cause.

But I don’t know if I am buying that explanation.  There are just way too many inconsistencies.

For instance, according to Reuters F-16s that were controlled by the opposition could have fired on Erdogan’s plane and taken him out, but they didn’t…

“At least two F-16s harassed Erdogan’s plane while it was in the air and en route to Istanbul. They locked their radars on his plane and on two other F-16s protecting him,” a former military officer with knowledge of the events told Reuters.

“Why they didn’t fire is a mystery,” he said.

To me, that simply defies a normal explanation.

In addition, soldiers that took part in the “coup” said “that they thought that they were taking part in military exercises”…

Soldiers arrested during a failed coup attempt in Turkey told interrogators that they thought that they were taking part in military exercises.

A group of 678 troops and 10 officers, headed by a colonel, was detained by authorities at Ataturk International Airport overnight.

During the interrogations, some of the soldiers claimed that, initially, they had no idea that they were taking part in an attempt to topple the government, thinking that it was just a military drill.

“Only when people began to climb on the tanks, we understood everything,” the soldiers said, according to Hurriyet newspaper.

If this is true, then the soldiers were just as surprised as everyone else.

To me, this whole thing stinks.  Either it was the worst military coup that I have ever seen in my lifetime, or it was a giant theater production.

In any event, President Erdogan is taking full advantage of it.  His popularity in Turkey is now off the charts, and he is going to have power to do virtually anything he wants at this point…

Still, the coup appears to have boosted Erdogan’s popularity. Clapping, singing and dancing, thousands of government backers celebrated the defeat of the coup in public squares in Ankara and Istanbul into the wee hours Sunday, bolstering support for the man who’s led Turkey for over 13 years.

Erdogan’s survival has turned him into a “sort of a mythical figure” and could further erode democracy in Turkey, said Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish research program at The Washington Institute.

In public remarks, Erdogan described the coup as “a gift from God”, and he has spoken of the need to “cleanse” the government and the military.  So far since the end of the “coup”, approximately 6,000 officials have already been rounded up…

Turkey widened a crackdown on suspected supporters of a failed military coup on Sunday, taking the number of people rounded up in the armed forces and judiciary to 6,000, and the government said it was in control of the country and economy.

Supporters of President Tayyip Erdogan gathered in front of his Istanbul home to call for the plotters to face the death penalty, which Turkey outlawed in 2004 as part of its efforts to join the European Union.

“We cannot ignore this demand,” Erdogan told the chanting crowd. “In democracies, whatever the people say has to happen.”

This number includes at least 2,745 judges.  I don’t even know that it is possible to put together a list of specific judges that you want to target that is that long in just a couple of days.  Obviously this was a list that someone had developed before the “coup” ever took place, and now this “coup” has handed Erdogan the perfect opportunity to round them all up.

And you may have heard tales of what goes on in Turkish prisons.  The Turks are known for being absolutely brutal, and many of those that have been rounded up are already paying a tremendous price…

Pictures on social media showed detained soldiers stripped from the waist up, some wearing only their underpants, handcuffed and lying packed together on the floor of a sports hall where they were being held in Ankara.

One video on Twitter showed detained generals with bruises and bandages.

As for Erdogan, this is just par for the course.  Those that follow Turkey closely know that he has already been acting like a modern day version of Adolf Hitler for years.  The following comes from Ralph Peters…

Key opposition figures have been driven into exile or banned.  Opposition parties have been suppressed.  Recent elections have not been held so much as staged.  And Erdogan has torn the fresh scab from the Kurdish wound, fostering civil war in Turkey’s southeast for his own political advantage.

Erdogan has packed Turkey’s courts with Islamists.  He appointed pliant, pro-Islamist generals and admirals, while staging show trials of those of whom he wished to rid the country.  He has de facto, if not yet de jure, curtailed women’s freedoms.  He dissolved the wall between mosque and state (Friday night, he used mosques’ loudspeakers to call his supporters into the streets).  Not least, he had long allowed foreign fighters to transit Turkey to join ISIS and has aggressively backed other extremists whom he believed he could manage.

At this point, there is essentially nothing standing in the way of Turkey becoming a radical Islamic dictatorship.  Anyone that dares to be critical of Erdogan is dealt with ruthlessly.  In fact, 1,845 “journalists, writers and critics” have been arrested for “insulting the president” since 2014 alone.

Yes, that is actually a crime in Turkey.

Erdogan envisions himself as the one that will recapture the glory of the old Ottoman Empire, and to show how great he is, he had the largest presidential palace in the entire world built for himself.  If you can believe it, it is actually 30 times larger than the White House…

The £400 million palace of Turkey’s President Erdogan is the biggest in the world. It is also a monstrosity. Thirty times the size of the White House, all the seats of government of Turkey’s Nato allies could be contained inside its vast marble halls and endless corridors.

Just who in the world does this guy think that he is, and what does he have planned next?

Unfortunately for the people of Turkey, they are not going to get rid of this dictator any time soon, and he is going to take them much farther down the road toward becoming a truly radical Islamic state.

http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/the-worst-fake-coup-ever-has-enthroned-erdogan-as-a-dictator-and-has-sealed-turkeys-fate
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« Reply #54 on: July 18, 2016, 07:30:37 pm »

EU official: Turkey prepared arrest lists before failed coup

The EU commissioner dealing with Turkey’s long-stalled bid for membership of the bloc said it appeared that the Turkish government had already prepared before the coup a list of people to be rounded up. “I mean, (that) the lists are available already after the event indicates that this was prepared and at a certain moment should be used,”   

http://www.timesofisrael.com/eu-official-turkey-prepared-arrest-lists-before-failed-coup/
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« Reply #55 on: July 19, 2016, 05:16:01 pm »

The Hydrogen Bombs in Turkey:Among the many questions still unanswered following Friday's coup attempt in Turkey is one that has national-security implications for the United States and for the rest of the world: How secure are the American hydrogen bombs

http://www.aina.org/news/20160718200114.htm


After the Coup, Turkey Turns Against America

http://www.aina.org/news/20160718200320.htm


Turks blockade U.S. nuke base: American airmen without electricity and water

http://www.trunews.com/article/turks-blockade-u.s.-nuke-base-american-airmen-without-electricity-and-water


Erdogan: Friend of ISIS and Obama:While the Muslim Brotherhood is banned from many Middle East countries, our president has filled our State Department and DHS with MB members.

https://grandmageri422.me/2016/07/18/erdogan-friend-of-isis-and-obama/


Erdogan wants to be ‘sultan of Islamic state,’ former model-turned-fighter tells RT

https://www.rt.com/news/347980-model-fighter-isis-kurds/
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« Reply #56 on: July 21, 2016, 02:49:10 pm »

http://www.nowtheendbegins.com/turkey-suspends-human-rights-erdogan-jockeys-become-supreme-dictator/

Turkey Suspends Human Rights As Erdogan Jockeys To Become Supreme Dictator

Turkish lawmakers declared a three-month state of emergency Thursday, overwhelmingly approving President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's request for sweeping new powers to expand a government crackdown after last week's attempt military coup.

7/21/16

Turkey said on Thursday it would suspend the European Convention on Human Rights during a state of emergency it declared to pursue the plotters of last week’s failed coup.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Students of history will immediately recognize Erdogan’s bold power play as being right in line with Adolf Hitler’s burning of the Reichstag Building and the passing of the Enabling Act in 1933. Hitler, as we have previously shown you, was a perfect type of the Antichrist. Erdogan is following right in his footsteps, funny how history repeats itself.

Turkish lawmakers declared a three-month state of emergency Thursday, overwhelmingly approving President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s request for sweeping new powers to expand a government crackdown after last week’s attempt military coup.

Parliament voted 346-115 to approve the national state of emergency, which will give Erdogan the authority to extend detention times for suspects and issue decrees that have the force of law without parliamentary approval, among other powers.

“Turkey will suspend the European Convention on Human Rights insofar as it does not conflict with its international obligations,” Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus was quoted as saying by the state-run Anadolu news agency.

Kurtulmus said Turkey would take the step “just like France has done under Article 15 of the convention,” which allows signatory states to derogate certain rights during times of war or major public emergency.

Article 15 allows contracting states to derogate from certain rights guaranteed by the Convention in time of “war or other public emergency threatening the life of the nation”. Permissible derogations under article 15 must meet three substantive conditions:
1.there must be a public emergency threatening the life of the nation;
2.any measures taken in response must be “strictly required by the exigencies of the situation”, and
3.the measures taken in response to it, must be in compliance with a state’s other obligations under international law

He said that the state of emergency “does not contradict the European Convention on Human Rights.”

Article 15 and other international rights treaties allow governments to restrict certain rights, including freedom of movement, expression and association during states of emergency.

However, the article stipulates that measures must be strictly proportionate and not discriminate against people based on ethnicity, religion or social group.

Kurtulmus also said the state of emergency may only last up to 45 days, despite being initially declared for a three-month span.

“We want to end the state of emergency as soon as possible,” Kurtulmus said in quotes carried by private NTV television.

Turkey imposed the special measure as it presses ahead with a crackdown on suspects accused of staging last Friday’s failed coup, blamed by the government on supporters of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen.

Kurtulmus insisted that no steps would be taken to restrict basic rights and freedoms, telling journalists that “the decision on the state of emergency is aimed at cleansing the state of the gang” of conspirators. source
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« Reply #57 on: July 22, 2016, 02:24:19 pm »

Erdogan vows Turkish military shake-up as emergency rule takes hold

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan vowed on Thursday to restructure the military and give it "fresh blood" as emergency rule took hold across the NATO member country after last week's attempted coup. Erdogan's comments...came as Turkey sought to assure its citizens and the outside world that the government was not turning its back on democracy and returning to the harsh repression of past regimes.   

http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Erdogan-vows-Turkish-military-shake-up-as-emergency-rule-takes-hold-462112
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« Reply #58 on: July 23, 2016, 04:48:57 pm »

TURKEY SEIZES OVER 2,250 INSTITUTIONS IN POST-FAKECOUP CRACKDOWN

In a new tactic against suspected coup plotters, Turkey on Saturday announced it had seized more than 2,250 social, educational or health care institutions and facilities that it claims pose a threat to national security.

The health ministry said patients at hospitals that are being seized will be transferred to state hospitals, highlighting the sweeping impact of the government's crackdown after a failed July 15 coup attempt.

A top Turkish official also accused some European countries of downplaying the grave danger posed by the failed insurrection, an apparent response to Western concerns about possible human rights violations in the government's crackdown.

"Some European colleagues think this is a Pokemon game, this coup attempt," said Omer Celik Turkey's minister for EU affairs. "Come here and see how serious this is. This is not something we play in a virtual game. This is happening in real time in Turkey."

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also sharply criticized concerns that the large-scale purges, which have left at least 10,000 people in jail and about 50,000 fired or suspended, could jeopardize basic freedoms. Erdogan told France 24 on Saturday that Turkey has no choice but to impose stringent security measures, after the attempted coup that killed about 290 people and was put down by loyalist forces and protesters.

"We are duty-bound to take these measures. Our Western friends fail to see it that way. I cannot understand why," Erdogan said. "I'm under the impression that they will only see that once all the political leaders of Turkey are killed, and then they'll start to dance for joy."

Turkey has imposed a three-month state of emergency and detained or dismissed tens of thousands of people in the military, the judiciary, the education system and other institutions. Turkish leaders allege that supporters of a U.S.-based cleric, Fethullah Gulen, infiltrated state agencies and groomed loyalists in a vast network of private schools as part of an elaborate, long-term plan to take over the country.

Gulen, a critic and former ally of Erdogan, has denied any knowledge of the attempted coup.

Turkish officials say they will respect the rule of law during the state of emergency, although some commentators have wondered whether the purges are targeting opponents of Erdogan who had nothing to do with the coup.

The Turkish treasury and a state agency that regulates foundations have taken over more than 1,200 foundations and associations, about 1,000 private educational institutions and student dormitories, 35 health care institutions, 19 labor groups and 15 universities, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported Saturday.

Those institutions "belong to, have ties with or are in communication with" the Gulen movement, according to a decree published Saturday in Turkey's official gazette.

Turkey has criticized the United States for not immediately handing over the cleric for prosecution. President Barack Obama says there is a legal process for extradition and has encouraged Turkey to present whatever evidence it has against Gulen.

Turkish judges, military personnel, prosecutors and other civil servants who have been dismissed will lose any gun and pilot licenses and will have to vacate any publicly funded residences where they live within 15 days, according to the decree. Those dismissed cannot work in the public sector and cannot work for private security firms.

The decree also extended the period that suspects can be detained without charge up to 30 days. All detainees' communications with their lawyers can be monitored upon order of the public prosecutor's office.

Also Saturday, newly released video from the night of the coup attempt shows renegade soldiers arriving at an Istanbul social club and rounding up top air force commanders attending the wedding ceremony of a commander's daughter.

The video, released by police and broadcast by Turkish media, shows soldiers ushering men in suits, some of them with their hands bound, around a club area. At one point, two detainees sit in armchairs as a soldier in full combat gear walks over and drinks from a glass.

The commanders, including air force chief Gen. Abidin Unal, were removed by helicopter and later released when the coup attempt collapsed, according to Turkish media reports.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_TURKEY_MILITARY_COUP?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-07-23-09-08-18
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« Reply #59 on: August 02, 2016, 12:06:41 am »

Christians' Future Uncertain as Islam Tightens Its Grip on Turkey

Some warn that Turkey is on its way to becoming an Islamic republic like Iran. Recent developments put Christians there at even greater risk.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is using the failed July 15 coup to reshape Turkey in his image. Some say it looks like a reboot of the old Muslim Ottoman Empire and a de facto dictatorship built around the immensely popular leader.

In what Amnesty International has labeled a "brutal backlash" against enemies real or imagined, Erdogan has detained over 15,000 people, arrested 8,000, and dismissed 60,000 civil servants.

In a speech to his followers last week, Erdogan, sounding more like a sultan than the president of a democracy, said,  "For one time only, I will be forgiving those who disrespected me and insulted me in any way and will be withdrawing all charges against them."

If Turkey is turning into an Islamic dictatorship, Christians will face increased persecution. Protestants in Turkey are already not allowed to build churches and must call them "associations."

Some churches were attacked after the coup attempt, which some viewed as a move against Turkey's Islamization. Once home to as many as 2 million Christians, there may be as few as 120,000 left in Turkey. There are even new concerns that the ancient Byzantine church, the Hagia Sophia, will be turned into a mosque.

America's Incirlik airbase is also at risk from rising Islamism and new tension with the United States. At a recent protest outside the base, the leader accused the U.S. of attacking "Muslim nations."

The failed coup has created a breach in relations with Turkey's Western allies, who fear they are watching Turkey slide into a dictatorship. A defiant Erdogan said relations with the West will continue, "but they have no place in our hearts."

http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2016/august/christians-future-uncertain-as-islam-tightens-its-grip-on-turkey
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