Turkey

According to reports, thousands of people took to Turkey’s streets late last week in a show of pent-up resentment against the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Close to 10,000 people were estimated to have gathered at the country’s landmark Taksim Square in the fiercest anti-government protests in many years. The demonstrations were triggered by police crackdown on a peaceful sit-in to prevent uprooting of trees at Taksim Square, and then spread around the country. The protests were exacerbated by plans by Erdogan to demolish a cultural centre and turn it into an opera hall. Many Turks see Erdogan as a ‘dictator’ and an ‘uncompromising figure’ exerting undue influence in every part of Turkish life. Erdogan, in a move to appeal to his large base of supporters, delivered two speeches and appeared in a television interview, dismissing the protesters as an ‘extremist fringe‘.1

• 1. “Erdogan rejects 'dictator' claims”, The Daily Star, June 2, 2013 at http://dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Jun-02/219176-erdogan-reje...