What started as a peaceful protest to prevent the razing of a public park in Istanbul to make way for a shopping mall has turned into a huge movement against the government of Turkey. I have seen very little media coverage on this, I have been primarily following since yesterday from facebook updates from a friend living in Istanbul.
Follow this link to see more continually updated pictures.
http://occupygezipics.tumblr.com/
I heard it mentioned in passing this morning, but had no idea that it had gotten to the point of boots to the face of unarmed protesters
Is this another "let's make this a true Islamist state" thing?
Or a "we don't want an Islamist state" kind of thing?
Or a "this government suck, let's revolt... hey an Islamist state is a good idea" kind of thing?
If I remember correctly Turkey is mostly Muslim with some rather suppressed minorities (that crossover into Iraq).
I don't fully understand the situation but the controlling power is pushing towards a more Islamist state and stripping away women's rights, alienating the liberal side, that sort of thing. Istanbul is the most western part of turkey, which is where this has all started. It is a push back against going back to Ottoman empire type roots and the fascist ruler.
Saw a lot of news coverage of this on CNN International this morning.
Wow, this is nuts. I hadn't heard a thing about it yet!
Once again I get my news from GRM
Yeah, you're not going to find this on the leftist media here in America. Can't have people questioning the "Islam is the Peaceful Religion" meme they push.
Floundering aside, Turkey was headed full-tilt Islamofascist until this started. Now they've got a big, big problem.
GameboyRMH wrote: Saw a lot of news coverage of this on CNN International this morning.
It was on NPR too, Turkey is traditionally pretty secular, but the most recent ruler (Erdogan) has been pushing a more Islamist agenda. Turkey is already a democracy though.
In reply to DoctorBlade:
Also can't have people thinking about people fighting against their own governments. Might give some of the crazies an idea.
ShadowSix wrote:GameboyRMH wrote: Saw a lot of news coverage of this on CNN International this morning.It was on NPR too, Turkey is traditionally pretty secular, but the most recent ruler (Erdogan) has been pushing a more Islamist agenda. Turkey is already a democracy though.
Yup. NPR was where I first heard it.....I didn't realize how brutal it had gotten, though.
rebelgtp wrote: In reply to DoctorBlade: Also can't have people thinking about people fighting against their own governments. Might give some of the crazies an idea.
Especially not in Turkey. They aren't happy with the current government at all, and they'd rather this not become another Tahrir square.
Turkey has some unique clauses in their version of the constitution. Iirc, the army is empowered to construct a "coup" and seize power if some takes the country too far away from being secular.
Some video:
Note how one of the police carefully aims the tear gas launcher at a low angle....
( regarding flounder: it's not the lead story on any of news sites I checked, not even in the World sections, not even on the PartisanSteam media sites)
Oh E36 M3.
Some of my best friends from brewing school are Turkish. Dont think they live in Istanbul though.
I just heard that the cops have withdrawn from the square
DoctorBlade wrote: Yeah, you're not going to find this on the leftist media here in America. Can't have people questioning the "Islam is the Peaceful Religion" meme they push.
It's on the front page of the first three news sites I looked at: CNN, MSNBC and Fox News. I figured I'd stop looking after that and assume that the leftist media has finally decided to stop the "Islam is peaceful" meme that they've apparently been pushing that I've apparently been missing.
In other news, I finally understand how Twitter and the like can be useful.
Schmidlap wrote: In other news, I finally understand how Twitter and the like can be useful.
Yeah, my friend in Istanbul was my primary source of news through Facebook as the situation was developing friday and saturday. Particularly on friday I felt that news sources were lagging behind. And the tumblr I linked to has so many more pictures that just arent being shown or talked about. Several people died from being hit in the head by the tear gas canisters on friday. I do hope some good can come of this for the Turkish people.
DoctorBlade wrote: Yeah, you're not going to find this on the leftist media here in America. Can't have people questioning the "Islam is the Peaceful Religion" meme they push.
It's not religion being violent. This is people being violent.
As for Islamism, as mentioned, Turkish people are pretty secular and chill as far as being a fairly Islamic nation. They're probably an Islamic country in about the same way the UK is a Christian nation.
Living in Berlin, the Turkish population there was about equivalent of Mexican in CA. (Edit: A number of pictures on that Tumblr link are rallies in places I recognize in Berlin.) Yeah, they were predominantly Muslim, but more were more ethnically and culturally Muslim than religiously so. I know that sounds weird, but it was things like how head scarves were more articles of style than of actual piety. Heck, look at the pictures linked, and you'll notice pretty much no one (except for the old women) wearing traditional Muslim garb. Lots of women with heads and limbs uncovered, men showing their navels, etc.
There were about as many Turkish students in my brewing class as there were Americans. They were all really nice, chill guys. Again, quite secular. Well, one of them is the kind of douchebag to constantly post about how much he's been working out at the gym, but that has absolutely nothing to do with religion.
I understand Turkey used to be, well, it went it came to a secular government in a Muslim country. My beef with the media is that we don't get a true picture, but it's either "the religion of peace and light" or "bloodthirsty worshipers of Allah".
Beer Baron wrote: Turkish people are pretty secular and chill as far as being a fairly Islamic nation.
This.
DoctorBlade wrote: I understand Turkey used to be, well, it went it came to a secular government in a Muslim country. My beef with the media is that we don't get a true picture, but it's either "the religion of peace and light" or "bloodthirsty worshipers of Allah".
How about, "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely"? I think that has a lot more to do with this scenario than anything religious.
the only thing i know about Istanbul was that it was once Constantinople..
novaderrik wrote: the only thing i know about Istanbul was that it was once Constantinople..
why'd they change it
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