Gezi park and what ensued, part VVI

some pictures from the past day a lá Hürriyet Daily

The Atlantic writes really well about the background of the Gezi park events.

Guardian's article on the protests that have spread around turkey during the afternoon and evening. some excerpts;

"Today is a turning point for the AKP," said Koray Caliskan, a political scientist at Istanbul's Bosphorus University. "Erdogan is a very confident and very authoritarian politician, and he doesn't listen to anyone anymore. But he needs to understand that Turkey is no kingdom, and that he cannot rule Istanbul from Ankara all by himself."

Ugur Tanyeli, an architecture historian, said: "The real problem is not Taksim, and not the park, but the lack of any form of democratic decision-making process and the utter lack of consensus. We now have a prime minister who does whatever he wants."

Meanwhile, Melih Gökcek, member of AKP and Mayor of Ankara tweets: 'In the name of God I swear we could drown you in a spoonfull of water, but thankfully we believe in democracy. We are not bandits nor do we resort to unjust force' (Gökcek's original turkish tweet)

yeah. especially they do not resort to unjust force - lollers - i think everyone from Reuters to AlJazeera have already told the world this is exactly how it got started; unjust force. Social media is good to see the ruling without their PR advisors.

i read that President Gül finally opened his mouth and urged the police to step back in order to handle the issues in a more peaceful manner, with a dialogue. i think that even if the situation calms down, the mood is sour, the large majority is unhappy with the ruling party. but opposition is also weak and while they take advantage of this unrest, i dont believe they can get anything done either.