Riot Police in Action

Dogs protesting death of a demonstrator in Hatay could not escape the wrath of Turkish Police on the streets of Istanbul.

via Pet Skandal

It was Never About the Park

No, it wasn't. Yet, it caused to much stress, discomfort and pain. Add a pinch of war, the recipe is complete. While the country is rocking like a cradle, a riot here, a protest there, a trip seems to be in order: Beechwood Park by The Zombies from the album "Odyssey and Oracle."

Turkey: A Colorful Country, Literally

Fresh painted.

Rainbow Stairs Frenzy

I have come to the conclusion that AKP (the ruling party led by Mr Erdogan) will not be able to govern Turkey even if they manage to seize a majority in the parliament after 2014 elections. They simply derailed; there is no other word to describe it.

After Beyoglu governor claimed colorful stairs would not make anyone happy and painted the Findikli stairs back to grey, everyone grabbed a can of paint and a brush and colorful stairs, sidewalks and what not (use your imagination) have begun to pop up all around Turkey. Here are a few pictures from rainbow stairs frenzy:

Diyarbakir - Sanat St.

Cihangir-Ist.

Kuzguncuk-Ist.

Urfa

LGBT has just declared "Pride Week" and we are waiting the expected reaction of Turkish government: unleashing the police, any minute from now.

500 Million Dollars for Gezi Park

The latest gossip between the members of Corps Diplomatique in Ankara has added a new dimension to the whole shebang of Gezi Park protests and the ensuing ruthless police intervention (attack). It seems that Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the crowd plus a minister from Black Sea region allegedly made a sweet deal for construction of a hotel in the park area with an undisclosed ex Soviet republic's president in Asia.

Rumour has it that a down payment of USD 500 million was received in advance from his highness by his highness but when the protests got out of hand the deal went south.

Meanwhile the Prime Minister disappeared for 8 days and was much later discovered in Bodrum area, inspecting construction sites with Environment and Urban Planning Minister, Erdogan Bayraktar (he was coincidentally from Black Sea region). "No tolerance," he said, for those ugly buildings, "they will all be demolished."

Back in Ankara, birds whispered that another site in lieu of Gezi Park had been offered to the unknown president who now asked his money back. And what do you know? It was miraculously in Cennet Bay, Bodrum, the replacement site that is.

Then we saw Erdogan leaving to Turkmenistan for a one-day visit on August 15th:

The Turkish prime minister, who was invited by Turkmen President Gurbanguli Berdimuhammedov, is expected to visit the Avaza region, located on the east side of the Caspian Sea, for the purpose of promoting further economic cooperation between the two countries. The prime minister will be accompanied by several cabinet ministers.

Oh, I know what you're thinking, and I detest you for that. How could you? I, for one, believe in his integrity and condemn all of those liars who are making such false accusations. 500 mil, huh? It's worth 5 times more, at least. This alone proves them wrong.

Tears Can't Hide Figures

I watched PM Erdogan crying on TV. Apparently he was deeply moved by the death of a 17 year old Egyptian girl in demonstrations. The video (subtitles are not mine, live with it):



It is really upsetting to see people die of all ages and gender and color, especially if you cannot do anything to help when it happens right in front of your eyes, on your TV or computer screen. You know it is not a game, no magical potion or wizard will give their lives back.

But was he sincere? I really hope he was not!

According to Bureau of Statistics, for the period 2002-2008:

• 241 police officers, 91 soldiers, 17 special ops members, 15 rangers, 45 wardens were tried for sexual assault and rape. None was convicted.
• 50% of rape victims were under 18.
• 90% were girls, 10% boys.
• Women called emergency response lines for:
  57% physical assault, 46.9% sexual assault, 14.6% incest, 8.6% rape
• Total number of reported rape victims was 62,000.
• In 2002, 66 women were murdered, in 2007 the number reached to 1011.
• 55% of 5-10 year old children and 40% of 10-16 fell victim to incest.

And for the period of 2008-2013, the Bureau managed to say sex offences increased by 30% compared to previous 5-year period; no numbers yet (maybe they are too ashamed). I would also go ahead and say, after cross-referencing ... data, that ... (but it only means jail time for me).

He has/had an opportunity to make a difference and he has done nothing. When innocent people were being massacred in Egypt, his police force (my heroes he call them) killed 5 people and injured approximately 9000. Long term effects of 400,000 gas bombs and thousands of litres of chemicals used and literally poured on peaceful Gezi Park protestors are unknown yet.

So, I sincerely hope that he is just a lousy politician trying to steal a vote or two by publicly crying. If he is sincere, then there really is something wrong with him as his tears cannot hide his numbers.

Media That Accumulates Is Not Independent

S. Fitzgerald Johnson's latest article Egypt: Educating the Empire draws a number of valuable political lessons from the Egyptian crisis. Although he identifies five of them, I would like to touch the third one, media's role. Johnson argues that,

[...] media that accumulates, for a state or bourgeois class, is never independent. The military claims that its intervention on 3 July 2013 restored a revolution and was not a coup, and the media – both state and privately owned – has dutifully represented the intervention as restoring a revolution and not a coup.

[...] The military labels all those opposed to its coup "extremists" and the media obediently incites against the military’s opponents calling them "terrorists."

[...] The names vary – New York Times, Al-Ahram, Pravda – but media that accumulates is always the instrument of the dominant classes in society. And make no mistake – the dominant classes are those controlling material wealth, not the numerical majority.

On a related note, here are five Turkish newspapers of August 16th, copycatting each other with identical/exact headlines and placement, citing Erdogan's "Bir Musa çıkar hesabını sorar" about Egypt. This was not the first and it is beyond disturbing:

Clearly, making an informed decision on anything is getting more difficult each day. We have to find, create, protect and cherish independent news outlets vigorously if we really care about our freedom (and sanity I might add).

From Super-Friend to Super-Foe

It is difficult to look inside the head of a probable schizophrenic like Mr Erdogan, and almost impossible to track his thought process vis-a-vis his political alliances. Not so many years ago he was best buddies with Bashar Assad, the president of Syria. You would not believe if I translated his discourse about Assad, his greatness, etc but maybe this photograph will:

Assad and Erdogan with wives

Assad has not changed; he was a dictator then, he is a dictator now.

Not so long ago, Erdogan had no trouble aligning himself with politicians and neo-cons like Graham Fuller, Morton Abramowitz, Paul Wolfowitz nor with institutions like AJC and ADL with obvious ties to Israel. He was eager enough to push several military projects like UAV's and modernization of fighter jets with the Jewish state. Now he is delusional enough to claim Israel set up the coup that ended Morsi regime in Egypt.

Foxman and Erdogan

I have not seen any change in Israel's or USA's policy in Middle East. Right or wrong, it is roughly the same. Yet, Israeli-Turkish relations deteriorated to a record low or outright hostile if I may say.

Obviously, there is something wrong with Mr Erdogan. Yesterday you could be his super-friend, tomorrow he can declare you the most evil person in the world.

A New United Nations Coming

In a recent (Aug 22) TV interview, Prime Minister Erdogan has called for a new United Nations. Claiming UN is not working the way it is meant to be, "We told them so many times but they either did the opposite (of what we said) or nothing," citing UN's policies in Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Syria, Iran, Israel, Egypt and Palestine as examples.

If we really say that the world is bigger than five [permanent members of the Security Council], then the other countries could establish their own United Nations. Such a move could be made. Such a move would prompt them [the United Nations] to reform. What will the U.N do when they (other nations) would pull?

I am appalled. First preciously alone, then magnificent defeat and now a new UN. Heading full speed but where?

Censorship Attempts by Facebook Protested

A large number of academics from all over the world have protested Facebook's censorship policies.

We, the undersigned academics, condemn Facebook for increasingly having exercised political censorship against opposition Facebook group pages in Turkey.  Over the course of Gezi protests in Turkey, Facebook has blocked a considerable number of group pages that were created and followed by people who believed in the transformative political power of social media.

Full text and list

Magnificent Defeat of Preciously Lone Ranger

Poetic, is it not? This is how Turkish Foreign Office describes the results of international policy of Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ahmet Davutoglu (Minister of Foreign Affairs). Seriously, they had first come up with "preciously alone" and then they coined the "magnificent defeat" (I really doubt if either of them read Frederick Buechner [wikipedia]) phrase.

Apparently something changed in the ministry's rank and file. When I once had some interest, they were recruiting from international relations, political sciences, public administration or similar fields of colleges. When did they switch to literature and/or drama and how did I miss it? The Guardian did do justice with Shakespearean tragedy after all.

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia Should Resign!

Turkey – a "preciously alone" country – is now pointing the finger at Middle Eastern monarchies for their extraordinary political and financial support to the Egyptian coup d’éta. Here is an example op-ed from the press:

That’s why I believe senior Turkish government members preferred to direct their criticisms toward Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, the Turkish secretary-general of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC). As they cannot demand the resignation of King Abdullah, it’s a lot easier to bash İhsanoğlu, who was elected to this position thanks to the great efforts of President Abdullah Gül during his stint as foreign minister in 2005.

There has to be a saying to describe this behavior but what? Pity I cannot remember, my memory is preciously weak!

No Mini Cooper to Turkish Police

Some products become icons; even when neither their creators  nor their manufacturers wanted them to be. In rare cases, it does not even help the sales. Mini Cooper is one such product; a car with a cult following. Now, take a look and see Turkish Police in action at Taksim Square:

Now see them in a Mini Cooper, almost exact same place:

I have no idea if this will hurt the sales of Mini Cooper but I do know that I am terribly hurt. Please, stop selling Mini Coopers to Turkish Police!