Turkey

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday evening into Sunday morning had police deploy water cannon and tear gas (some say laced with pepper spray) to clear Gezi Park of protesters and tents, after it had been occupied for a couple of weeks by those protesting the decision to cut down its trees and build a […]

Update On Tuesday morning, police in Istanbul moved on protesters at Taksim Square, using teargas and water cannon to clear them out. Police began dismantling the barricades erected by protesters. 301Plus News reports Prime Minister Erdogan’s aggressive and confrontational style with the protesters has prompted the Chinese news agency Xinhua to do a story on […]

VICE: “On Friday, May 31, Turkish riot police fired tear gas and pepper spray into a peaceful protest held to save Gezi Park, one of the last green areas in central Istanbul. This set off the biggest civil uprising in the history of the Turkish Republic, calling for Prime Minister Erdogan’s resignation. The unrest has […]

Julie Poucher Harbin, EDITOR, ISLAMiCommentary, interviews two scholars on Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan: A small demonstration against bulldozing a park in Turkey escalated into nationwide political unrest over the past week — reaching its peak over the weekend when police used unnecessary and excessive force against protestors… “The first round of popular protests in […]

Ayşe Soysal, in Istanbul, writes for ISLAMiCommentary : Ayse Soysal It was a ‘Wow!’ weekend indeed. My niece Elif, a college student, was one of the protesters in Taksim Square — the first time ever that she participated in a public protest. She was there for the environmental concerns she supports, and the protest movement […]

(Courtesy Reuters) This young woman being teargassed at the Taksim protests in Istanbul has become an internet icon. Unveiled and bare-armed, she is clearly secular and modern. Many but not all of the supporters of Justice and Development Party Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan wear headscarves and dress modestly. But she is also just young, female, […]

Compilation video of police brutality in Turkish Gezi Park protests: As usual with grassroots Youtube videos, the authenticity of it cannot be independently verified from abraod.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan is now risking Turkey’s economic miracle by his imperious reaction to the protests in dozens of cities that have roiled Turkey and are entering their fifth day. Two are dead and hundreds injured. The Turkish stock market, which had been up 300% since 2009, has taken a hit. The country’s […]