The protests began with a peaceful occupation of Gezi Park near Taksim Square in central Istanbul. Besides being a breathing hole and oasis in the city, Gezi Park and Taksim Square are important symbols for progressive, secular, nationalist and Kemalist Turks. The park and square have been used as traditional rally points since the liberation of Turkey and the victory of the Turkish Revolution on 29 October 1929.
The main reason for, why the police crack-down on the park protesters on Friday morning could ignite mass protests with more than 200.000 protesters in more than 30 cities throughout Turkey on Friday evening is, that the crack-down on the people who protested for the preservation of the tradition-laden park equaled a police crack-down on the founding principles of the Turkish nation-state, the republic, as a democratic and secular state that does not interfere in the internal affairs of its Arab neighbors. The plan to build not only a shopping mall, but to re-erect military barracks from the Ottoman period in the square is by the vast majority of Turks perceived as a direct provocation and slap into the face of the Turkish Republic which is based on Kemalist principles.
Last Friday, after crack-down on the protesters in Gezi Park, and after the mass protests began throughout Turkey, R. Tayyip Erdogan remained defiant and announced that he was determined to go ahead with carrying out the construction plans in Taksim Square.
“Police will be on duty today and also tomorrow because Taksim Square cannot be an area where extremists are running wild” Erdogan stated to the press and continued, blaming the protesters for the violence and for having escalated their opposition to the governments policies over the past months.
“We will rebuild the military barracks according to the project and it is unclear if the site would include a mall,” said Erdogan, while calling for an immediate end of the protests.The rebuilding of the military barracks from the Ottoman period are by many Turks perceived as one more attempt by the Muslim Brotherhood associated AKP government to re-write the history of Turkey and to reverse the victory of the Turkish revolution in 1929.
Traditionally, on October 29, Turks are taking to the streets in the tens or hundred of thousands to celebrate ” Republic Day” which most Turks consider as one of the most important, if not as “the” most important public holiday in Turkey. On Republic day, Turks are celebrating the victory of the Turkish revolution on 29 October 1923 under the leadership of Kamal Attaturk over imperialism and its proxies.
In 2012 the AKP government of Prime Minister R. Tayyip Erdogan officially banned any public marches and celebrations on October 29. Most opposition parties described the ban as an attempt by the AKP and the Muslim brotherhood to re-write history. More than 200.000 Turks went into the streets on Republic Day 2012, defied the governments ban and marched toward police barricades which had been erected in Istanbul. The number of protesters was so overwhelming for the police forces, that they voluntarily removed the barricades – and themselves – before being removed.
The Erdogan administrations plan to re-build the Ottoman period military barracks and eventually the mall is perceived as a direct slap into the face of Turkish nationalism, of Turkish independence from imperialism and the foundation of Turkey as a secular state.
Over the last years, the Erdogan administration has increasingly come under fire for despotism and for attempts to “Islamize” Turkish society. Although the vast majority of Turks are Muslims, the vast majority of Turks is also highly suspicious against any attempts to change Turkey´s status as a nation state with a secular constitution.
Among the events that have provoked wide spread discontent are numerous cases in which the police has been turning a blind eye to women being harassed and threatened for not veiling their face in public.
Another source of wide spread discontent and frustrations with the Erdogan administration is the Ergenkonen Case, which leading members of the opposition, high-ranking military officers and large segments of the Turkish population perceive as a de facto coup d´etat by the Muslim Brotherhood, the AKP and the Erdogan administration. In the Ergenkonen case some 300 military officers have been arrested and charged with espionage. Some 300 more military officers as well as dozens of civilians have been arrested and charged on a milder espionage paragraph for “passing on secret information”.
Both leading members of the Turkish opposition and analysts, including the author of this article, have repeatedly stated that the arrests and imprisonment of 600 key military officers and dozens of leading members of the opposition constitute a de facto coup d´etat by the AKP government of R. Tayyip Erdogan.
The Ergenkonen case and the arrests on manufactured and trumped-up charges was not only a coup d´etat, but most likely also one of the primary steps taken by the AKP government of Erdogan, to prepare the ranks of the Turkish military for a military aggression against Syria.
It must be remembered, within this context, that the initial main fighting force of the so-called “Free Syrian Army” consisted of Muslim Brotherhood dominated corps which were heavily supported with mercenaries or volunteers from within the Turkish Muslim Brotherhood, and who from day one of the uprising in Syria were supported with weapons, logistics, as well as with special forces. This initial fighting force was heavily reinforced by Libyan fighters.
Only after the decisive defeat of the Free Syrian Army after two failed campaigns to secure the city of Aleppo as seat for a transitional government, the massive influx of Wahhabi and Salafist mercenaries, organized primarily via al-Qaeda´s Turkey – Syria franchise Jabhat al-Nusrah began.
The mass protests in Turkey, with hundreds of thousands of protesters in the streets of Istanbul, Ankara and more than 40 other cities have little to do with 600 trees.
The protests in Turkey are a manifestation of a Turkish population that is waking up to the fact that they have to take their country back from the grip of the Muslim Brotherhood and from the grip of an AKP government which has aligned itself with imperialism, against its neighbor Syria, and which ultimately facilitates long-term US-strategies to “Balkanize” Turkey.
While this article is being written, police forces in Istanbul are firing tear gas into the masses in yet one more attempt to disperse the protesters. Given the years of frustration and built-up anger with the Muslim Brotherhood and the arrogance of the AKP government of R. Tayyip Erdogan in the face of masses who demand that the government, which came to and held on to power by a coup d´etat,; which has led the nation into a war on its neighbor by sponsoring al-Qaeda mercenaries and terrorists; which has arrested hundreds of military officers and opposition leaders on false and trumped-up charges; the situation has a propensity toward developing into a protracted and violent stand off.
The question is, how many rounds will the AKP – Muslim Brotherhood alliance or the opposition stand, and does Erdogan fight like Mike Tyson ? (In that case, opposition, take care of your ears.)
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