Massive rally illuminates Taksim as protests continue in Turkey

Massive rally illuminates Taksim as protests continue in Turkey

    Sunday, June 09, 2013   No comments

The Gezi Park protests entered another day as crowds gathered for a massive rally in Istanbul’s Taksim Square today, despite Ankara clashes that had occurred in the morning hours.

Cities nationwide continued to demonstrate in support of the ongoing protests, but Taksim again became the heart of the movement as thousands gathered for a rally scheduled to take place in the afternoon hours of June 9.

A stage was set up for the rally in the middle of the square, with protesters designing signs and slogans before it started. The rally, organized by the Taksim Solidarity Platform, which represents the protesters in Gezi Park, was represented by the platform as a response to the failed attempts at resolving the issue through meetings with government officials, namely Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç.

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Analysts: Foreign militant Islamists streaming into Syria

Analysts: Foreign militant Islamists streaming into Syria

    Sunday, June 09, 2013   No comments

Foreign Islamist extremists are streaming into Syria, apparently in response to the Shiite militant group Hezbollah’s more visible backing of Syrian President Bashar Assad, a development that analysts say is likely to lead to a major power struggle between foreign jihadists and Syrian rebels should the regime collapse.

Researchers who monitor the conflict said this week that they’ve detected the influx of foreigners in firsthand observations on the battlefield, spotting them in rebel videos posted on the Internet, observing a recent spike in reported deaths of foreign fighters and studying their postings on social media sites.

And while many foreign fighters have been absorbed into established Syrian rebel groups, there are signs now that an increasing number are remaining in free-standing units that operate independently and are willing to clash with other rebels and Syrian communities to implement their own rigid vision of Islamist governance.

“The numbers are increasing, with more radical groups inside now,” said Salman Shaikh, director of the Brookings Institution’s Doha Center in Qatar.

Elizabeth O’Bagy, an analyst at the Institute for the Study of War who just returned from a two-week research trip to study rebels inside Syria, said that “without a doubt” she saw far more foreign fighters than on her previous trip two months ago, including foreigner-only fighting groups in northern Idlib province, near the border with Turkey.

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Erdoğan probably did not know thousands of people who voted for him were among those raising their voices against his government’s Taksim plan

Erdoğan probably did not know thousands of people who voted for him were among those raising their voices against his government’s Taksim plan

    Friday, June 07, 2013   No comments

I do not think Erdoğan guessed the Gezi Park protests would grow that much either. He was so confident on Wednesday that he defied the protesters and said the project will go on no matter what they do. And he chose to remain silent on the issue on Friday -- when the police crackdown turned most violent -- while speaking at an international event. I still cannot understand how the prime minister, who is known for not leaving any issue without comment, did not utter a single word on an incident that topped the agenda.

Yes, Erdoğan did what opposition parties could not do for years. He created his own opposition, which consists of various circles from the society including those who once lent full support to him. And if he does not return to his pro-democracy stance, this would prepare his fall in Turkish politics. İstanbul, his place of birth in politics, can bring him his political death.

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First ‘Friday prayers’ in Istanbul's Taksim after clashes

First ‘Friday prayers’ in Istanbul's Taksim after clashes

    Friday, June 07, 2013   No comments

A group calling themselves “Anti-capitalist Muslims” performed their first prayers all together while other protesters “stood guard” against any kind of provocation in Istanbul’s occupied Taksim Square on the 11th day of unrest in the country.

On June 5, a Quran reading took place at the square on Miraç celebration day. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also performed his prayers at a mosque located in Istanbul’s Asian side, Üsküdar Hz. Ali Mosque, away from protesters in the city center while the occupied Gezi Park witnessed “leftists” protection for the ones performing prayers. Erdoğan’s return from a three-day-long North Africa trip had given rise to thoughts suggesting that Friday prayers, which have a symbolic importance for Muslims, might turn into protests on the 11th day of the protests.

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Iran Outmaneuvers U.S. in the Syrian Proxy War

Iran Outmaneuvers U.S. in the Syrian Proxy War

    Thursday, June 06, 2013   No comments

Syria’s uprising offered the possibility of a strategic defeat of Iran. In this scenario, Iran would be weakened by the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, its single Arab ally and a vital link to Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia. Isolated, Iran would become more vulnerable to international pressure to limit its nuclear program. And as Iran’s regional influence faded, those of its rivals -- U.S. allies Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia -- would expand.

Instead, events in Syria are spinning in Iran’s favor. Assad’s regime is winning ground, the war has made Iran more comfortable in its nuclear pursuits, and Iran’s gains have embarrassed U.S. allies that support the Syrian uprising. What’s more, Iran has strengthened its relationship with Russia, which may prove to be the most important strategic consequence of the Syrian conflict, should the U.S. continue to sit it out.

Part of the U.S. calculation in declining to intervene has been the assumption that Assad would inevitably fall. The U.S., apparently, did not consider the implications of leaving the door open to a comeback by Assad. Reinforced by Hezbollah fighters and armed with Iranian and Russian weapons, the Syrian army broke through rebel lines in the central city of al-Qusair last week. The symbolic victory has dashed hopes for a quick end to the regime or a diplomatic resolution to the fighting.
Syria is now a proxy war, the outcome of which will determine the regional pecking order. In the Mideast, aura of power decides strategic advantage. Hezbollah’s prowess in Syria is a blow to Saudi Arabia, which has supported Hezbollah’s political opponents in Lebanon. The Syrian army’s gains are a setback to the Saudis, Qataris and Turks, all of whom have backed the rebels with money and weapons.

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Muslim Brotherhood: Turkey protests aim to make Islamic project fail

Muslim Brotherhood: Turkey protests aim to make Islamic project fail

    Thursday, June 06, 2013   No comments

Leaders from the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) in Egypt have accused Turkish protesters who are participating in the recent wave of protests that started in İstanbul’s Gezi Park and later spread to other cities of receiving funds from “foreign entities to make the highly successful Islamic project fail,” according to a news report appeared on the Al Arabiya news website.
A media adviser to Egypt’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), the Muslim Brotherhood’s political arm, Mourad Aly told an Egyptian daily that the demonstrations in Turkey have “nothing to do with daily or economic needs. It is intended to promote the idea that Islamic regimes, which have made economic achievements and proved to the world that they can stand in the face of all external challenges, have failed,” Aly added in an interview with the Al-Masry Al-Youm daily.

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White House defends NSA phone records collection as 'critical tool'

White House defends NSA phone records collection as 'critical tool'

    Thursday, June 06, 2013   No comments

The White House has sought to justify its surveillance of millions of Americans' phone records as anger grows over revelations that a secret court order gives the National Security Agency blanket authority to collect call data from a major phone carrier.

Politicians and civil liberties campaigners described the disclosures, revealed by the Guardian on Wednesday, as the most sweeping intrusion into private data they had ever seen by the US government.

But the Obama administration, while declining to comment on the specific order, said the practice was "a critical tool in protecting the nation from terrorist threats to the United States".

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Turkish PM accuses Reuters reporter of misinforming her agency about the situation in the country

Turkish PM accuses Reuters reporter of misinforming her agency about the situation in the country

    Monday, June 03, 2013   No comments

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan argued today with Reuters reporter Birsen Altaylı about the seven-day long Taksim Gezi Park protests, accusing her of misinforming her agency about the situation in the country.

“Don’t tell me that all of society [is supporting the protests], I will not believe it,” Erdoğan told the reporter. “There might be extensions of ideological structures [behind the protests]. This might have gotten them to revolt. You have to see that. What haven’t we done in this country that [led the protesters to] take such a step?” said Erdoğan.

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“There is 50 percent of [the country who voted for the ruling Justice and Development Party - AKP], and we can barely keep them at home [and prevent them from coming onto the streets for counter-protests]. But we have called on them to calm down,” the prime minister said after Altaylı said the people on the ground did not represent any single party and that they included students and housewives, unlike Erdoğan’s claims.

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A Turkish Spring? Over 1,000 Injured as Anti-Government Protests Spread Outside of Istanbul

A Turkish Spring? Over 1,000 Injured as Anti-Government Protests Spread Outside of Istanbul

    Monday, June 03, 2013   No comments

Turkish police abusing protesters

Turkey is seeing its biggest wave of protests against the ruling government in many years. Tens of thousands of people rallied across the country Sunday for a third consecutive day of mass demonstrations. The unrest erupted last week when thousands of people converged at Istanbul’s Taksim Square, a public space reportedly set for demolition. The protests have grown to include grievances against the government on a range of issues, and protesters have managed to remain despite a heavy police crackdown, including tear gas and rubber bullets. The Turkish government says around 1,000 people have been detained at more than 200 protests nationwide. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has dismissed the uproar as the work of political opponents and "extremists," vowing to proceed with governments plans to remake Taksim Square. "I cannot tell you how empowering this is," says Turkish scholar and activist Nazan Ustundag. "This is a country known for [police] brutality and for the Turkish people’s unquestioned loyalty to the state. So it’s very exciting all these different sections of people [are] standing [up for] the last public space which wasn’t given to private interests."

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Claims of government control over Turkish media: "While the whole world was broadcasting from Taksim Square, Turkish television stations were showing cooking shows"

Claims of government control over Turkish media: "While the whole world was broadcasting from Taksim Square, Turkish television stations were showing cooking shows"

    Sunday, June 02, 2013   No comments

"Erdogan does not listen to anyone any more," said Koray Caliskan, a political scientist at Istanbul's Bosphorus University. "Not even to members of his own party. But after the protests this weekend, he will have to accept that he is the prime minister of a democratic country, and that he cannot rule it on his own."

The dramatic events also exposed the complicity and almost complete government control of mainstream Turkish media, which largely failed to report the protests.

"The Turkish media have embarrassed themselves," Caliskan said. "While the whole world was broadcasting from Taksim Square, Turkish television stations were showing cooking shows. It is now very clear that we do not have press freedom in Turkey."

Human rights groups have repeatedly expressed their concerns about the lack of freedom of expression in Turkey, and Erdogan routinely criticises media outlets and journalists who do not agree with his views and those of his ruling Justice and Development party (AKP).

Opposition politicians urged Erdogan to listen to people instead of trying to silence them.

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