What's Happening In Turkey, And Why It Should Concern You

[Shrieker]

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/Pr ... _Law/?copy

The political climate here in Turkey has been rather turbulent. The current administration, a few days ago passed a bill restraining the internet, trying to put Turkey in the same league as Saudi Arabia, Iran and China. Yesterday mass protests have taken place, and the so called prime minister dictator erdogan has (as he always does) called upon the media to censor the protests. The only means with which people can acquire information is the internet, and i think that tells why they're trying to ban it as well. At one point there were reports that the number of protesttors had reached 35-40.000 at Taksim despite short notice, but once again the police have attacked the people brutally, forcing them into the streets. There are reports that riot police simply held the entrance/exit to all streets and fired plastic bullets and tear gas canisters (they usually aim these towards the head/neck/face in an attempt to maim/kill the victims) literally torturing people. Not one single news outlet have televised the protests, not even a news slide at the bottom of the screen ! So the majority of the population is unaware of what's going on, and why. All of which is very reminiscent of last May/June.

Since mid December a corruption scandal surrounding erdogan has surfaced, and a prosecution was initiated. The size of the corruption is rumored to be in excess of 80 billion (yes you read that right, billion) euros, though that hardly surprises me. Through his minister of justice, erdogan has replaced the prosecutors assigned to the case along with thousands of police officers. Now, this fundamentalist ....hole not only owns business circles and mass media, but also the justice system which is an absolute joke ! I'm so sorry to say this about my country but Turkey has truly become a banana republic... On the 30th of March, nationwide mayoral elections will take place which will be pivotal for our future, but it's hardly a comforting thought given cheating allegations in previous elections. Who he has the justice system in his grasp, can not only manipulate polls, but also the election itself too.. After all of this, i think it would not surprise you if i said the internet restrictions have started taking effect despite the president not having signed the bill yet !

Oppression of the rulers is nothing new. Remember sopa/pipa in the U.S. ? Modern democracies have constitutional 'security valves' built into the system, but the current administration over here have over time managed to creep into and render them useless. There's no guarantee that such a thing will come to pass over where you live in the future. Maybe they won't come so far as they've managed so far in Turkey, but i assure you, they will try.


As a gesture of your good will, please sign the petition at the top of this page. For the time being, there's no way to tell if it's going to have any effect whatsoever, but it's a start.

[MOWOG]

Must be very scary times for you, sir. It seems the entire world is aflame with ordinary citizens pushing back against autocratic regimes be it in Egypt, Syria, Ukraine or now Turkey. The US, Canada and now Australia are in the grip of tyrannical right wing rulers whose primary objective is to expand and maintain power over the citizenry.

The people who wrote the US Constitution were well aware that the ferocious quest for power was an enduring attribute of human nature and sought to craft ways to restrain it. But one would have to say that more than 200 years into that noble experiment, the idea that the citizens of any nation hold its sovereign power is just a sweet bit of nostalgia, no longer relevant in a world gone mad with the idea that the citizens must be suppressed by any means possible.

It makes me think that the movie "V For Vendetta" was far closer to truth than fiction.

For the record, but for your post, I had no knowledge of the plight of Turkey and its people and I make it a point to get my global news from Al Jazeera, after finding that none of the news sources available in the US are trustworthy. Which is rather ironic, given that Al Jazeera is a Qatari enterprise and Qatar has so far failed to demonstrate it has any great love for human rights.

My thoughts and prayers are with you. [-o<

[Shrieker]

Thank you for your support and kind words MOWOG ! This wouldn't have occured to me half a decade ago, but be it V, the Matrix or 1984 - they are mere expressions of the facts in the form of the seventh art rather than fiction, which has been very disappointing for me to find out...

Some photos from last night (they aren't mine):
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 079&type=1

It's almost dawn over here, but no sleep for me tonight


A protestor is applying rennie or talcid anti-acid mixed with water to his mask - to ease the strain of tear gas



This is what looks like a wooden shield stricken by a gas canister at the very top - did i mention they aim for the face ?



Skiing goggles are a good idea, but swimming goggles are more common. If you don't have equipment for your eyes, you'll only have a few seconds before your seeing is impaired



Ever watched a movie called 'the terminator' ?



"If what's happening in this country is normal, we are all crazy"



Berkin Elvan is a 14 year old teenager. Last June, at the peak of the protests in Istanbul, he went outside to buy some groceries. Police shot him in the head with a tear gas canister - he's been in comma ever since.



"We are all ATATURK to say 'stop!' to the dark forces who assault his(our) revolutions"


"Target practice!" as they say. Notice how the gun is more or less parallel to the ground having just fired a cansiter.


I should mention these protests are almost always none violent and peaceful. However, since last May/June the police have made a habit of taking brutal action even without warning. Without police intervention, vandalism was next to none. When the police attacks, people are inevitably forced to defend themselves - for the most part it is in the shape of trying to run away. It's been nothing like Ukraine or Egypt since last May, which makes the now routine police intervention even more of a shame.

[Spankyham]

.... Australia are in the grip of tyrannical right wing rulers ...

For me, when you make this sort of statement, you massively diminish the rest of your comments. Pity

[Oss El Boss]

Do you like what is happening in Egypt and Syria? If yes then continue doing like this and you will see the same happening in your country
I also don't understand why you are calling Erdogan a dictator, the real dictator was Atatürk and not Erdogan. The man has brought turkey to a much better position econmically and made it a major Force in the Region. And if you want to see what a dictator does you just have to look at what general Al Sisi is doing now in Egypt after he did his military coup he is killing thousands of people and arresting them just for being against him and his coup he is arresting even children.

[tok-tokkie]

Your post has alerted me to something I was totally unaware of. Here is South Africa we have a very corrupt administration but we are only at the start of the journey to get to where Turkey seems to be. However your economy has been growing unlike ours.

[Shrieker]

Your post has alerted me to something I was totally unaware of. Here is South Africa we have a very corrupt administration but we are only at the start of the journey to get to where Turkey seems to be. However your economy has been growing unlike ours.

- What's happening to healthcare and education in where you live ? Do you get more quality for less money ? Ideally, healthcare and education should be absolutely free and high quality everywhere in the world, they are 2 of the most basic human rights ! Is your government working towards this goal, or against it ? Compared to 12 years ago (before the AKP administration) these human rights have clearly regressed in Turkey.

- What's happening to minimum wage in your country ? Compared to 12 years ago (before the AKP administration) the minimum wage over here; 1) Can't buy as many bread loafs 2) Can't buy as much kgs of meat 3) Can't buy as much ounces of gold. Other examples could be given easily. So, by any measurable means, the minimum wage has regressed and by a considerable amount ! The Turkish people are clearly poorer than they were 12 years ago; of the 70+ million of people, a staggering 15 million are minimum wage workers !

-What's press freedom, civil rights, and freedom of speech is like ? Do you have any arrested journalists, or if you do, how many ? http://cpj.org/imprisoned/2013.php Have a look at this. If you say anything against the current administration over here, it won't take long before you're labeled as a terrorist. 13 years ago (before the AKP administration) during the height of the 2001 economic crisis, an angry shop keeper took his cash register to the prime ministry and literally threw it down some stairs right in front of the then prime minister Bülent Ecevit. Nothing happened to him. I can't imagine what would happen to you if you tried such a protest nowadays. If you type the words 'Turkey arrested' in google, the first suggestion that comes up is 'Turkey arrested journalists'. Need i say more ? The prime minister nowadays threatens news outfits if they don't agree to do his bidding. The Turkish public at large is unfortunately uneducated and illiterate. That means we don't like reading books, but love watching tv. And the thing you watch the most is daily news - approved by no other than mister erdogan himself. This is how they manipulate the public at large.

About economic growth of Turkey: It's one of the blatant lies this administration has used over and over. The average economic growth of Turkey between 1923-2002 has been somewhere between %6.5 - 7. The average of the past 11-12 years however is %5.5 - 6. You can check these figures for yourself too. Boastings of economic growth has been nothing but propaganda. As i wrote down in the previous paragraph, public opinion is easily swayed if you own the news outlets and nearly all the newspapers.


If you see any signs similar to these in where you live, do not hesitate to raise your voice and organize ! We've been at least 5-6 years late and now are paying the price for it...

[lotus7]

Your post has alerted me to something I was totally unaware of. Here is South Africa we have a very corrupt administration but we are only at the start of the journey to get to where Turkey seems to be. However your economy has been growing unlike ours.

The awakening has happened and we are on the journey , Tok Tokkie
The "administration" can only promise houses , clean water, sanitation for so long . Education, health care are not the issues on the mind of the violent protestors any more , in fact it never really was.

[MOWOG]

"Terrorism" has become the latest pretext for ever increasing government secrecy and the denial of basic civil rights such as the right of free speech and the availability of a free press. In the history of the United States, 11 journalists have faced criminal prosecution for disclosing classified information. 8 of those have occurred during the Obama administration.

My reference to Australia above is occasioned by the ongoing Australian policies designed to prevent refugees from Indonesia from arriving on Australian soil and seeking asylum. The government refuses to speak publicly about the program but it appears the refugees are intercepted at sea, their leaky old boats deliberately scuttled and they are loaded onto motorized lifeboats and sent back from whence they came. This is rather at odds with the historical roots of the nation, in which virtually every citizen is descended from someone who first arrived via a ship seeking relief from intolerable conditions at home. At the ferry dock outside Darling Harbor in Sydney there is a wall which celebrates these intrepid pioneers from all around the globe and offers up snippets of their memoirs. Government secrecy is the hallmark of repressive regimes everywhere and Australia is no exception. That is the real pity.

If one travels back in time far enough, you will find the original definition of liberalism is the idea that people are the holders of the sovereign power of a nation, not some monarch, emir, sheik, privileged group or corporation. Liberal today has come to have a negative connotation, usually associated with giving expensive government handouts to nonproductive members of society. But really what has happened is that the whole idea that the people ARE the country has fallen out of favor. For all practical purposes, the grand liberal experiment in democracy proclaimed by the Declaration of Independence has failed and we are now moving back to a new kind of feudalism, where the powers that be suffer the presence of the common folks so long as they work hard and do not cause any undue tumult.

I do not mean to suggest that living in the UK or the US is anywhere near as dangerous or arduous as living in Ukraine or Egypt or Turkey. What I do see is a world that has gone mad for the increase of government power and the subjugation of people to state and corporate interests. There is no place on earth where an expansion of civil liberties is taking place so far as I know. Digital surveillance is now the norm and, just as with Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon, constant surveillance leads inexorably to a lessening of free expression, usually by self censorship.

Since this is a Formula One forum, perhaps it would be useful to inquire into how much the sport directly or indirectly support or empowers repressive regimes. The image of the phalanx of US made armored vehicles spewing across the causeway from Saudi Arabia into Bahrain a few years ago to quell civil unrest in that country remains a disturbing one.

[Phillyred]

.... Australia are in the grip of tyrannical right wing rulers ...

For me, when you make this sort of statement, you massively diminish the rest of your comments. Pity

Yes. As an American I hate right vs left arguments. Both parties are very flawed and only seek reelection. Even when they do "reach across the aisle" to compromise the solution is just a bandaid.

[mistrx]

signed and shared the petition. I am generally against mass surveillance and censorship so I truly support this petition and poeple of Turkey in this matter. the latest information about NSA programs is just immensely worrying. we're heading into Orwellian state.
funny is how some people just don't get the fact tha the technology is so advanced that you can - and it is done - spy on basically anything and anyone. just google about NSA's latest mega datacentre in Utah or info about drones or image recognition (using ordinary smartphones) to get some idea about what is now technically possible. and Google buying Boston dynamics - truly scary news - good old Google (giving data to NSA or enabling NSA backdoors together with Microsoft, Apple, Cisco, Dell..the list is endless) going into military robotics. hmm

oh and then there's this old time favourite argument "if I don't do anything bad they can spy on me I have nothing to hide". those people just don't realise that what is considered criminal offence can very quickly change. so for example expressing political views on Internet forums (or engaging in gay rights - Sochi, anyone?) might be deemed so with a change of government done in weeks. and I can bet you you can't practically run away from your digitaal footprint. or why should government/companies/corporations know that you might cheat on your wife or are pregnant or suffer from incurable disease - that is certainly not something criminal but it is certainly not good news when applying for a job for example.

fully support what the piratebay guys currently works on - basically decentralized torrent DNS system which means that any government can't just shut down the web domain it chooses so. somethin similar done by Namecoin as well. apparently the way to go!

oh, long post but I could not help myself...

[Oss El Boss]

=D>
Kill your opposition and arrest them and then if the world asks what you are doing "Im fighting terrorism!"

[neilbah]

you are free..to do as we tell you

[Shrieker]

mistrx,

=D>

Neilbah,

sums it up nicely...


Thank you guys for your support ! I really, really appreciate it !!

[SectorOne]

Always nice to see an awakening among people. I´m guessing these revolutions won´t be confined to countries like Ukraine, Turkey etc but rather a certain superpower seems to show very early signs of a revolution.