Turkey is in turmoil. Hundreds of thousands are protesting on the country’s main squares against a whole set of grievances. They are facing extreme police brutality. But the AKP dream of unfettered economic growth and mounting regional power within a neo-Ottoman sphere of influence is over.
Some of the most original graffiti - and there is much of it - plays with the teargas theme: “Wipe away your tears: things will never be the same again!”
A media that does not function as a check on the government will not be able to survive in the coming days and people will definitely question business relations between the media and the government.
PM Erdoğan’s inflammatory policies point to the pitfalls of majoritarian style democracy in Turkey.
Turkey will not tolerate, let alone a Saudi-type sharia law, but even a much more palatable mildly Islamist neoliberal conservatism, which is, incidentally, a direct descendant of the American religious right rather than any Islamic political ideology.
Should Cameron, Obama, Hollande and Merkel remain tight-lipped about the disorder spreading across Turkey, we must conclude it is because they regard the measure of police force as an expedient that they themselves could ultimately resort to.
The simmering dissent and dissatisfaction unleashed at Gezi Park may not be enough to topple AKP's majority, but it threatens their political agenda as well as Turkey's democratic consolidation.
Reclaiming Taksim has shattered AKP's hegemony in deciding what a square is supposed to mean for us citizens, because Taksim is now what the Resistance wants it to mean: our public square.
Brutal assaults by the Turkish police on protesters in Istanbul and around the country during the last few days have invited a few expressions of ‘concern’ from EU capitals. Unfortunately, the EU’s ‘concern’ about the Turks’ human rights is not substantiated by corresponding policy.
Whether or not the protestors currently occupying Istanbul's Taksim square can evolve into an effective, open and progressive opposition to the AKP's authoritarian neoliberal regime, remains to be seen. But one thing is clear, this is only the beginning.
Increasing monopolisation of power, patriarchal approach to government and a feeling of disenfranchisement by a significant portion of society in the absence of proper public deliberation and dialogue on a number of critical issues have caused massive public outrage. An open letter from five conce
