The people of Turkey are rioting for a secular government

[Kershaw]

http://imgur.com/a/gKAsu

it's really bad over there. 40+ cities are protesting.

from reddit.

[–]executex
[+1] 683 points 5 hours ago (761|102)Yes they want another election most likely.
They want all those AKP laws reversed. They want Tayyip Erdogan to resign.

• Especially the ones about banning alcohol being sold at night (10pm to 6am). Age 21 to drink alcohol (when it was 18 like other European nations).
• Reversal of removing philosophy/sociology from high schools.
• Reversal of fines about Blasphemy on TV stations.
• Reversal of tax-extortion by the government to take over news TV stations.
• Reinstatement of freedom of speech and freedom of the press (many journalists have been jailed and they should be released).
• Legislation of a right to speedy trial (which allows the government to indefinitely detain anyone who opposes them).
• Reinstatement of the national holiday.
• Reinstatement of "T.C." on government buildings that were removed by this government (probably because they want to make it "T.I.S." Turkish Islamic state sometime in the future).
• Demilitarization of the police and cessation of police violence against the public.
• Release of 300+ military officials from prison on thought crimes and political views and false accusations of "coup plots" (which is a freedom of expression).
• Removal of infamous Article 301, insulting Turkishness.
• Cessation of Mosque construction funding using taxpayer funds.
• Reform of the first-past-the-post voting system and transparency in elections.

There may be others I may have forgotten.

http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/1finyo/what_is_happening_in_turkey_this_is_happening_in/caaq2r2

I just wanted to make sure you guys were aware since I havent seen anything posted here and media coverage has been spotty.

[deutschman]

Power to them. I can not be prouder of the Turkish people. I hope they get a positive out come, and that the protests do not get anymore violent.

[mrsleeve]

saw a little blurb on this a day or 2 ago but nothing to give you any clue about whats going on....

[gtdragon980]

There have been videos of people being ran over by armored vehicles and sprayed by fire hoses and what not. It is truly a full on revolt over there, not to be taken lightly.

[Cletonius]

It is truly a full on revolt over there, not to be taken lightly.

Agreed, the tipping point is close worldwide. If things keep going as they are, the us will be doing this also.

[M-technik-3]

Very glad I did fly over there last week. Region is crumbling in stability.

[BraveUlysses]

Agreed, the tipping point is close worldwide. If things keep going as they are, the us will be doing this also.

You think we will have riots? Over what exactly?

[evandael]

..the us will be doing this also.

reallllyy now.


godspeed to the Turks (ironic perhaps, but nonetheless..). I have huge respect for the culture, the region seems beautiful, and Turkish spiced sausage is damn good. may as little blood be shed as possible.

[BrewCity11]

My girlfriend lives 2 minutes away from the epicenter of this whole thing. Been getting constant updates from her and other family members. She's been gassed and witnessed many many injuries at the hands of police.

Now, the gov't is sending out their civil 'police' to pretend to be protesters, acting like thugs, throwing stones, breaking shit, etc. To make the real peaceful protesters look bad.

Its spread into other parts of the country even.

The PM isn't budging, calling the protestors street bums who are hurting the fabric of the nation.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is leaving on a trip to Tunisia, Morocco and Algiers - countries that overthrew their leaders after massive rebellions.

Hahaha lol, doing some research???? Great image you're setting for yourself. Leave your country during this huge uprising.

And, i'm moving there in 2 months. Lets see what happens.

[Q5Quint]

copypasta from reddit:

tldr: Prime minister privatized gov assets, Hippies protested selling of park for a shopping mall, riot police beat the waffles out of them in their sleep, the whole country has had enough and starts freaking out because he also banned beer and turned every public school into a islamist school. And some other stuff.

I will say it louder
HE BANNED BEER AND TURNED ALL PUBLIC SCHOOLS INTO ISLAM SCHOOLS WTF

[–]skylorelding [+1] 190 points 3 hours ago (200|19)
A Brief Introduction to Turkey Protests:
-How it started?

Police fiercely cracked down a few dozen of peaceful tree huggers trying to prevent a park from being demolished without any legal basis for building a shopping mall instead. Photos of the violent crack down became symbolic and people started to join protests against the police. Government tried to disperse them with more violence, so more and more people started to join the protests. A few dozen protesters in a small park became hundreds of thousands just in 2 days in multiple cities.

-Why they are protesting?
It started as a small environmentalist protest. But police violence was the last straw. It became a mass protest against PM Erdogan's and AKP government's authoritarian rule.

Here is a very small and summarized list of what happened during the 12 year AKP government rule:
Educational system was changed with haste, without any popular consensus. Many highschools are converted to religious schools without notice. Religion classes proliferated. PM Erdogan stated clearly that he wants to raise a devout youth. AKP government tweaked university admission formulas privileging Islamist youth from religious high schools.

Turkey became world's biggest prison for journalists. Widespread arrests were made claiming that they were anti-state terrorists. Erdogan also forced media to self-censor. Prominent journalists criticising his politics were all fired by the mainstream media bosses because they did not want their other big businesses to suffer.

Hundreds of university and highschool students were arrested and imprisoned just because they joined protests against high admission fees.
Violent crack downs were made in many public protests. They forbade people to gather in squares.

PM Erdogan refused to lower election threshold after collecting votes by promising it. He gerrymandered against locals wishes.

Displays of affection on public and on TV shows were restricted. Announcements were made in public transport to behave "decent". AKP even forced the producers to "marry" bachelor characters in popular TV shows.

Erdogan supported abortion ban. He relentlessly stated that he wants every single Turkish woman to have at least three kids. Day after pills are restricted.

Government restricted alcohol. They forbade consumption of alcohol in music and university festivals. PM Erdogan continuiously scorned and insulted people who drink alcohol. AKP municipalities removed outdoor tables and chairs of pubs from streets. They passed a bill forbidding to drink alcohol where it can be seen from outside.

Warmonger. PM Erdogan continiously tried to force the Western countries to go to war in Syria. He gave support to Sunni Islamists. Those Sunni Islamists harrased Shia minority in southeastern Turkey. He ignored it.
They imprisoned generals and military officers without concrete evidence. They detained them without evidence for years. Turkish people respect their military.

Erdogan undermined and disrespected Turkish soldiers killed in action in his statements. He saw them as disposable persons. Did I say that Turks respect their military?

Erdogan threatened to abolish the constituitonal court when he was denied after he tried to pass bills contradicting the constitution.

A drone attack killed 34 kurdish people in eastern Turkey, assuming they were PKK terrorists. Intelligence reports were wrong. Erdogan burried the investigation because it was his orders.
AKP government burried a lot of corruption cases.

Erdogan continiously denied requests from the Alevite minority to recognize their worship spaces as legal religious practice spaces just like mosques, churches or synagogues. He recently instigated secterian tensions, naming the third bridge which will be built on Bosphorus after an Ottoman sultan renown as a Alevite massacrer.

He privatized almost every single public asset ignoring opinions and objections from the public. He allowed destruction of forests and natural habitats to build hotels and residences despite objections.

AKP government increased internet censorship. Web sites were arbitrarily banned.

AKP appointed inadequate people as university deans conforming to its political views despite heavy objections from academia and students.
Parliament members and a ex-minister of the AKP shunned LGBT problems in the country and explicitly called LGBT people sick, claiming homosexuality as a curable disease.

TL,DR: Turks are saying to PM Erdogan: "You can't do anything you want just because you won the elections. Especially, don't interfere with our lifestyles."
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[Cletonius]

You think we will have riots? Over what exactly?

reallllyy now.

It will happen eventually, loss of freedoms, destabilization of the financial system, food shortages, etc. We are on the longterm path.

I'm not saying this will happen in the near future or anything, just that it will happen if things don't fundamentally change at a societal level.

[gtdragon980]

It will happen eventually, loss of freedoms, destabilization of the financial system, food shortages, etc. We are on the longterm path.

I'm not saying this will happen in the near future or anything, just that it will happen if things don't fundamentally change at a societal level.

I say, who's to say it wouldn't happen? Anything can happen in our world. Just because we live in America, a "free country", doesn't mean we are safe from the tyranny of overpowering governments and rebellion. It has happened before and most likely will happen again.

[mrsleeve]

^

remember the average age of the great democracies of history was 200 years before falling into tyranny , we are on borrowed time.

[Cletonius]

I say, who's to say it wouldn't happen? Anything can happen in our world. Just because we live in America, a "free country", doesn't mean we are safe from the tyranny of overpowering governments and rebellion. It has happened before and most likely will happen again.

Yeah, I guess that's true. There is some pretty good government tyranny happening already. As mrsleeve says, the average age of a democracy before shit hits the fan is around 200 years.

Maybe wishful thinking on my part that we won't have to deal with another civil war in our lifetimes.

[nando]

can't blame them for protesting. Hopefully it's resolved peacefully but I doubt it.

^

remember the average age of the great democracies of history was 200 years before falling into tyranny , we are on borrowed time.

and Jesus Christ is going to come down from the sky and take only rich, white landowners with him. right? ;)

The difference here is even though we're armed to the teeth, we don't generally go and send suicide bombers to kill people from the political party/religion we don't like.

we just send drones overseas and do it with remote controls.