Protests in Turkey: The Timeline and What People on the Stre

[Paul Kemp]

Protests in Turkey: The Timeline and What People on the Street Want

The nationwide demonstrations in Turkey constitute one of the most significant events in the country’s recent history. As the events continue to unfold, it is important to keep track of the evolution of key developments, in an attempt to preserve an understanding of the bigger picture. This collective work aims to serve as a basis for a street declaration yet to be written by the opinion leaders, and also as an archive for future references (click here to read it in Turkish)(click here to read it in Turkish).


Timeline chart of events

On May 27th 2013, a small group of protesters gathered in Gezi Park, Istanbul, in an attempt to stop the clearing of trees that were being cut down to build a shopping mall. The protesters were met with brutal force by Turkish police, which quickly inspired a high level of participation in a public movement from people of diverse backgrounds and ideologies.

The uprising, which shares similarities both with the Arab Spring and the Occupy movement in the USA, was almost entirely ignored by Turkish mainstream media. Despite the lack of attention from media outlets, the demonstrations spread to many cities throughout Turkey, particularly Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and Eskişehir by the third day.

Although the two-day silence of the government was broken by statements given to the press by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan himself, as well as his advisor Ibrahim Kalın, the condescending and threatening tone of these remarks failed to bring calm to the public unrest.

Encompassing the interests of a variety of people, this civil uprising is a great opportunity for a brighter Turkey. Given the significance of this event, it is essential to keep track of the milestones of this movement, whose many details are already fading out of our collective memory.

The timeline chart aims to keep track of the evolution of events since the 27th of May: CLICK HERE FOR LINK


What do the people on the street want?


Initially, this movement may have been sparked simply by widespread opposition to the policies of AKP. However, interpreting these events in a broader context than sole AKP opposition, and identifying them as a struggle of the people against the oppression of the authority, may play an important role in the search for long-term solutions for Turkey.

In fact, the violence to which people have been subjected in Gezi Park, Taksim Square and other places throughout the country since the beginning of the protests portrays a picture not at all unfamiliar to the Turkish people.

University students wearing headscarves, workers seeking their rights, and minorities claiming their right to education in their native languages are examples of groups of people who have experienced this type of oppression and police brutality before. Perhaps one thing all clusters of Turkish society will agree upon is the fact that essential freedoms should not be the subject of arbitrary privileges that change with the rise and fall of different ruling ideologies.

This leaderless movement that started on May 27th will fulfill its mission only if the people succeed in explicitly stating their demands. Denial of freedoms have a prominent history in Turkey, and lack of freedom is not entangled with the potential departure of any rulıng party from power. Even the people who today support the policies of AKP once suffered from the same type of oppression before AKP came to power. Long term change in Turkey is not contingent upon the departure of AKP, but instead depends upon a complete list of demands for the ruling power to address.

Documenting the demands of the people, who are protesting on the streets, is an important beginning to a declaration that embraces all views, and as a democratic platform, social media is quite suitable to gather those opinions and demands.

The following list is a compilation of issues raised by individuals who posted tweets tagged with #OccupyGeziManifestosu, or comments on other social media outlets (no sorting criteria are used):

Taksim Project must be cancelled.

The Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Draft Law must be withdrawn from the National Assembly’s agenda.

The right to congregate and demonstrate must be secured under the constitution.

Democracy must not be practiced only at election times: A democratic process based on community participation must be adopted.

City councils must take an active role in decisions related to the city and the citizens’ opinions must be taken into account.

Electoral threshold must be lowered (which is 10% in Turkey).

Safety of elections must be ensured; an e-voting system must be implemented.

Internet filters must be removed and Internet access should not be restricted.

Bans affecting people’s lifestyles, including the ban on alcohol and the ban on headscarves in state-owned buildings must be lifted.

Freedom of information must be raised to international standards.

Media censorship must be considered illegal.

Compulsory military service must be repealed.

Military courts must be abolished.

The US military bases in Turkey must be closed.
Students in custody must be released.

All discrimination based on nationality, ethnic origin, skin color, gender, sexual orientation and sexual identity must be prohibited.

The destruction of nature across the country must be stopped.

Environmental and animal rights must be protected by the law.

Local referendums must be held in the regions in question for building nuclear plants, thermal plants or dams.

Environmental Impact Assessment reports for future dam projects must be prepared by independent scientific institutions, not by companies certified by the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization.

Gezi Park, Taşkışla, İnönü Stadium, Dolmabahçe Palace and Maçka Park must be preserved as public spaces.

Science, universities and the arts must be liberated.

Anatolia’s cultural heritage must be protected.

Religion section must be removed from government issued identification cards.

Natural history museums, botanical gardens, art galleries must be prioritized over shopping malls.

Taksim is a symbol: Taksim must be open to all peaceful congregations and demonstrations.

The Law of Police Powers, the Civil Code, the Criminal Code, and the Code of Criminal Procedure must be democratized.

Freedom of expression must be ensured at international standards.

Atatürk Cultural Center (AKM) must not be demolished.

Turkey must come to terms with the Armenian Genocide.

The government must investigate the assassination of Hrant Dink, massacre in Roboski and the Reyhanlı incident.

The State Theaters and the State Opera and Ballet must not be shut down.

The State must be impartial to all religions and sects.

Individual and group lifestyles and lifestyle choices must be respected and protected by laws.

Turkey must stop threatening Syria. Syrian refugees must be moved to safe locations far from the border.

Police violence must stop.

Civil organizations must be liberated, and unionization must be facilitated.

Income inequality must be remedied.

The wage ceiling must not be more than 10 times the minimum wage.

The Prime Ministers’ discretionary funds must be regulated.

Political transparency must be ensured. All political immunities must be repealed.

Instead of making a new constitution, the 1961 constitution must be modernized.

The rule of law must be unconditionally upheld, unlawful detention of people must be stopped.

Mineral reserves must be nationalized.

The Turkish Petroleum Corporation must be the only institution authorized for exploring and drilling oil.

The Prime Minister’s office must be chaired in rotation.

Basic sciences must be supported.

Soldiers and journalists under arrest must be given a fair trial. Extrajudicial imprisonment for months and years must be stopped.

The abortion law must be withdrawn.

Once the new airport is opened, the existing airport at Yeşilköy, İstanbul should be transformed into a public park.

Education at all levels must promote scientific and up-to-date content.

Indicative labels must be mandatory on GMOs.

Demonstrators taken into custody since May 27th must be released immediately with no legal ramifications.

All barriers to active political participation must be removed.

All bans on the congregations, rallies, parades and demonstrations must be lifted; the right to congregate and demonstrate must be fairly implemented.

The people must be actively included in the control mechanism of civil society organizations.

The Prime Minister’s office in the Beşiktaş must be relocated, and the pier must be opened to public.

Journalists imprisoned for expressing their thoughts and contributing to people’s freedom of information must be released.

Active participation of professional associations must be ensured in the processes involving the legal arrangements in their respective fields.

Unsolved murders must be resolved, assailants must be prosecuted.

The sexist education system must be reformed.

Concrete steps must be taken towards securing children’s rights to education, healthcare and justice.

Exploitation of labor must be stopped: permanent measures must be taken to protect workers’ rights and freedoms such as occupational health and safety, and flexible working hours.

Domestic and small-size capital must be supported, monopoly must be prevented.

Astronomic taxes on gasoline, alcohol and tobacco must be reduced.

Access to safe and effective birth control methods must not require prescription; basic protection methods should be available to all at regional healthcare centers.

This list was last updated on 6 June 2013, Turkish Local Time 5:45 pm (EET, GMT +2).

We call the people of Turkey to complete this list to guide those who intend to compose a collective text.

Contribute!

This collective work is being updated as the events unfold, and is strengthened by your contributions. If you would like to contribute, we warmly welcome volunteers to translate the text and the timeline into other languages. If you would like to help us with translations, please contact gezicizelgesi@gmx.com.

Authors and Contributors

The timeline chart in Turkish was created and is being updated by Mahir M. Yavuz, N. Kıvılcım Yavuz, Orkan Telhan, Ebru Kurbak and Ebru Baranseli. Information regarding #OccupyGeziManifestosu was collated with the help of Asu’ya Tüyolar and Onur Güzel. Server performance is supported by S. Çağlar Onur and Barış Metin.

Turkish-English Translation

Original post in Turkish can be found here. Translation to English is completed by Onuralp Söylemez, Mine Şengel, N. Kıvılcım Yavuz and Okşan Yılmaz (sorted by last name). Proof reading and final edits were done by Anoush Dadian.

Editor

A. Murat Eren Holds a PhD in Computer Science. Currently a Postdoctoral Researcher on Microbial Ecology in the USA. (a.murat.eren / gmail.com).

GO TO SOURCE SITE http://subjektif.org/protests-in-turkey ... reet-want/

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[Paul Kemp]

Political Sovereignty and True Representative Government

Political Sovereignty and True Representative Government

Please Use this Forum to create Topics to promote the truth postulates on true representative government found in the 5th epochal revelation of God to mankind.

My Political Work is at Citizens in Motion

The 10 Stages or Steps in the evolution of a True Form of Representative Government according to epochal revelations can be found here.

To hear Jesus speak on Political Sovereignty 2000 years ago click here: (Please note this file is 12mb and takes several minutes to load but its wisdom is well worth the wait.)

Thank You

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[Paul Kemp]

Political Sovereignty and True Representative Government

The measure of the advance of society is directly determined by the degree to which public opinion can control personal behavior and state regulation through nonviolent expression. The really civilized government had arrived when public opinion was clothed with the powers of personal franchise. Popular elections may not always decide things rightly, but they represent the right way even to do a wrong thing. Evolution does not at once produce superlative perfection but rather comparative and advancing practical adjustment.


There are ten steps, or stages, to the evolution of a practical and efficient form of representative government, and these are:




1. Freedom of the person. Slavery, serfdom, and all forms of human bondage must disappear.

2. Freedom of the mind. Unless a free people are educated -- taught to think intelligently and plan wisely -- freedom usually does more harm than good.

3. The reign of law. Liberty can be enjoyed only when the will and whims of human rulers are replaced by legislative enactments in accordance with accepted fundamental law.

4. Freedom of speech. Representative government is unthinkable without freedom of all forms of expression for human aspirations and opinions.


5. Security of property. No government can long endure if it fails to provide for the right to enjoy personal property in some form. Man craves the right to use, control, bestow, sell, lease, and bequeath his personal property.

6. The right of petition. Representative government assumes the right of citizens to be heard. The privilege of petition is inherent in free citizenship.

7. The right to rule. It is not enough to be heard; the power of petition must progress to the actual management of the government.

8. Universal suffrage. Representative government presupposes an intelligent, efficient, and universal electorate. The character of such a government will ever be determined by the character and caliber of those who compose it. As civilization progresses, suffrage, while remaining universal for both sexes, will be effectively modified, regrouped, and otherwise differentiated.

9. Control of public servants. No civil government will be serviceable and effective unless the citizenry possess and use wise techniques of guiding and controlling officeholders and public servants.

10. Intelligent and trained representation. The survival of democracy is dependent on successful representative government; and that is conditioned upon the practice of electing to public offices only those individuals who are technically trained, intellectually competent, socially loyal, and morally fit. Only by such provisions can government of the people, by the people, and for the people be preserved.


________________________________WebSource_______________________________




The Ten Stages of a True Representative Government by the People, for the People and of the People can also be found HERE

My political postings and work as well as current world news can be found HERE

Click to hear Jesus speak on Political Sovereignty 2000 years ago.

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[Paul Kemp]

Turkey and the Muslim Brotherhood: The Social Uprising against “Brother Erdogan”

By Thierry Meyssan
Global Research, June 11, 2013
Voltairenet.org




In ten days, the crackdown on the anti-Erdogan protests has already claimed three lives and injured 5,000 people.

For Thierry Meyssan, the Turkish people are not protesting against Recip Tayyeb Erdogan’s autocratic style, but against his policies; in other words, against the Muslim Brotherhood, of which he is the mentor. What started on Taksim Square is not a color revolution over a new building project, but an uprising that has spread across the entire country; in short, it is a revolution that calls the “Arab Spring” into question.

The Turkish uprising is rooted in the inconsistencies of the Erdogan government. The latter—after having billed itself as “Muslim Democrat” (based on the “Christian Democratic” model)— suddenly revealed its true nature with the advent of the Arab Spring “color revolutions.”

In terms of domestic and foreign policy, there is a before and after the volte face. The previous stage involved the infiltration of institutions. The aftermath has been characterized by sectarianism. Before, Ahmed Davutoğlu’s theory of “zero problems” with Turkey’s neighbors took center stage. The former Ottoman Empire seemed to be coming out of its slumber and returning to reality. After that, the opposite happened: Turkey fell out with each of her neighbors and went to war against Syria.


The Muslim Brotherhood


Piloting this shift is the Muslim Brotherhood, a secret organization that Erdogan and his team have always been affiliated to, despite their denials. Even if this shift is subsequent to the one involving Qatar—the financier of the Muslim Brotherhood—it bears the same implication: authoritarian regimes that claimed to be foes of Israel suddenly act like close allies.

It is important to remember that the label “Arab Spring” given by the West is a deception to make people believe that the Tunisian and Egyptian governments were overthrown by a mass movement. While there was a popular revolution in Tunisia, its goal was not to change the regime, but to achieve economic and social changes. It was the United States, not the street, that ordered Zinedine el Abidine Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak to step down. Then it was NATO that toppled and lynched Muammar al-Gaddafi. And it is again NATO and the GCC that have fueled the attack against Syria.

Across North Africa—with the exception of Algeria—the Muslim Brotherhood have been placed in power by Hillary Clinton. Everywhere, Turkish communications advisors are on board, courtesy of the Erdogan government. Everywhere, “democracy” was a facade which allowed the Brothers to Islamize firms in exchange for embracing the pseudo-liberal capitalism of the United States.

The term “Islamize” reflects the rhetoric employed by the Brothers, not reality. The Brotherhood intends to control the privacy of individuals based on principles which are outside the scope of the Quran. It calls into question the role of women in society and imposes an austere lifestyle without alcohol or cigarettes, and without sex…at least for others.

Over the past ten years, the Brotherhood has stayed under the radar, leaving the transformation of public education in the hands of the sect run by Fethullah Gülen, of which President Abdullah Gül is a member.

Although the Brotherhood flaunts its hatred for the American way of life, it thrives under the protective wing of the Anglo-Americans (UK, USA, Israel) who have always been able to use its violence against those who resisted them. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had appointed to her cabinet her former “body woman,” Huma Abedin (wife of former Zionist Congressman Anthony Weiner), whose mother Saleha Abedin presides the women’s division of the Brotherhood. It was through this channel that Clinton stirred up the Brotherhood.

The Brothers purveyed the ideology of Al-Qaeda, through one of their members: Ayman al-Zawahiri, the organizer President Sadat’s assassination and currently the leader of the terrorist organization. Al-Zawahiri, like Bin Laden, has always been an agent of U.S. services. Although officially listed as a public enemy, from 1997 to 2001 he met regularly with the CIA at the U.S. Embassy in Baku in the context “Operation Gladio B,” as testified by former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds [1].


A progressive dictatorship


During his imprisonment, Erdogan claimed to have broken with the Brothers and to have quit the party. Then, he got himself elected and gradually imposed a dictatorship. He ordered the arrest and incarceration of two thirds of the generals accused of involvement in Gladio, the secret network under U.S. influence. In addition, he put behind bars the highest number of journalists for an individual counry. This fact has been obscured by the Western media, unwilling to criticize a NATO member.

The army is the traditional custodian of Kemalist secularism. However, after the September 11 attacks, senior officers were concerned about the totalitarian drift of the United States, and made contact with their counterparts in Russia and China. To nip these unwelcome initiatives in the bud, certain judges pointedly reminded them about their historical ties with the U.S.

If, like in any other profession, journalists can be rascals, the world’s highest incarceration rate is indicative of a policy: intimidation and repression. With the exception of Ululsal, television turned into an official eulogy, while the press followed the same path.


“Zero problems” with its neighbors


The foreigh policy of Ahmed Davutoğlu was equally laughable. After seeking to tackle the unresolved problems left over from the Ottoman Empire one century earlier, he tried to play Obama against Netanyahu by organizing the Freedom Flotilla to Palestine [2]. However, less than two months after Israel’s act of piracy, he accepted the international commission of inquiry created to cover it up and resumed in secret his collaboration with Tel Aviv.

As a token of the cooperation between the Brotherhood and Al-Qaeda, the Brotherhood had placed on the Marvi Marmara al-Mahdi Hatari, the second in command of Al Qaeda in Libya and a likely British agent [3].


Economic disaster


How did Turkey squander not only a decade of diplomatic efforts to restore its international relations, but also its economic growth? In March 2011, she participated in the NATO operation against Libya, one of its major economic partners. With Libya devastated by the war, Turkey lost its market. At the same time, Ankara embarked on a war against neighboring Syria, with whom a year earlier she had signed a trade liberalization agreement. The impact was swift: the growth in 2010 was 9.2%, in 2012 it fell to 2.2% and continues to fall [4].


Public Relations


The rise to power of the Muslim Brotherhood in North Africa went to the Erdogan government’s head. By brandishing his Ottoman imperial ambition, he disconcerted the Arab public to begin with, and then turned the majority of his people against him.

On one hand, the government is funding Fetih 1453—a film that gobbled up an astronomic budget for the country—which is supposed to celebrate the conquest of Constantinople, albeit historically flawed. On the other hand, it attempts to ban the most popular television series in the Middle East, The Sultan’s Harem, because the truth does not project a peaceful image of the Ottomans.


The real reason for the uprising


In the present context, the Western press has focused on specific details: a housing project in Istanbul, ban on late-night sales of alcholol, or statements encouraging population growth. All this is true, but it doesn’t add up to a revolution.

By showing its true nature, the Erdogan government has cut itself off from the population. Only a minority of Sunnis can identify with the backward and hypocritical programme of the Brothers. As it happens, about 50% of Turks are Sunni, 20% Alevi (that is to say Alawites), 20% are Kurds (mostly Sunni), and 10% belong to other minorities. It is statistically clear that the Erdogan government can not hold out against the uprising that its own policies helped to ignite.

By overthrowing him, the Turks would be solving not only their own problems, but would also be putting an end to the war against Syria. I have often pointed out that the war would stop the day one of its foreign sponsors exits the scene. This will soon be the case. Thus, the Turkish people will also halt the Brotherhood’s expansion. Erdogan’s fall foreshadows that of his friends; Ghannouchi in Tunisia and Morsi in Egypt. It is in fact most unlikely that these artificial governments, imposed via rigged elections, can survive their powerful sponsor.



Translation
Gaia Edwards

[1] “Al Qaeda Chief was US Asset,” by Nafeez Ahmed, 21 May 2013.

[2] “Why did Israel attack civilians in the Mediterranean?” and “Freedom Flotilla: The detail that escaped Netanyahu,” by Thierry Meyssan, Voltaire Network, 1 and 8 June 2010.

[3] “Free Syrian Army commanded by Militay Governor of Tripoli,” by Thierry Meyssan, Voltaire Network, 19 December 2011.

[4] “Turkey’s Economic Growth Slows Sharply,” by Emre Perer and Yeliz Candemir, The Wall Sreeet Journal, 1 April 2013.

GlobalResearch.ca

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