Cyprus-Forum.com

[repulsewarrior]

...oops, just checking that the reply button still works.

...i've already said my thank-you to Tim and to stpier. without the dialog, think how worse off we, as Cypriot die-hards, would be. there is a whole range of opinions on this forum, it is natural that the extremes in this context, are expressed and debated. stpier has a lot to learn so what? his "Greek" is no different to B25's "Turk", what is important is that we do not forget that in Cyprus they represent a set of people one in the same, against the rest of us, Greek and Turk.

[bill cobbett]

Getting back to Gezi Park protests...

This, part of a press release from the European Commission's 2013 Lack of Progress Report on Turkey 2013, published today...

..." However, the political climate continued to be marked by polarisation. This translated into an understanding of democracy as relying exclusively on parliamentary majority, rather than a participative process in which all voices are heard, and finally in an uncompromising stance in the face of dissent and a failure to protect fundamental rights and freedoms. This was exemplified in late May and early June, when police used excessive force in response to a major wave of protests.

In addition, key provisions of the Turkish legal framework and their interpretation by the judiciary continue to hamper respect for fundamental freedoms, including freedom of expression. Cross-ownership in the media and intimidating statements by politicians have made self-censorship in the traditional press widespread..."

http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-13-895_en.htm

[bill cobbett]

Appalling news from Hurriyet under the headline...

Turkish Public Broadcaster Employees Investigated For Gezi Support

The Turkish State Broadcaster TRT has launched an investigation in to its employees who supported the Gezi Park protests and if that weren't enough TRT go on to say that this will be a criminal investigation.

First couple of paras from the report...

..." Turkey’s state-run TV channel TRT has confirmed that investigations have been launched against employees who supported the Gezi protests on social media, on the grounds that they “committed a crime under the cover of expressing their thoughts.”

“TRT has launched investigations against 15 employees, not because they expressed their thoughts but because they committed a crime under the cover of expressing their thoughts,” a written statement by TRT issued yesterday read... "

Lot more on this new threat to limit free expression and support for peaceful protest in Turkey at...

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkis ... sCatID=339

[bill cobbett]

More attempts to silence protest in Erdogan's Turkey.

This time but not for the first time, using Erdogan's Inquisition, the so-called "Public Prosecutor".

Following statements they made back in June, two protesters who had accused Erdogan of lying are being persecuted by this "Prosecutor's Office".

...and some youths are being "asked the question" for the pretty tame satirical cartoon below that Erdogan prob found offensive.

"... With the Gezi Park protests continuing in Istanbul, on 12 June a press statement was made in Cumhuriyet Square, Kayseri. Ali Yıldırım and Ümit Kartal, in the address they made, giving examples from Erdoğan’s speeches, said, “He is lying.” Kayseri Public Prosecutor’s office has initiated proceedings against Yıldırım and Kartal on the grounds of ‘defaming the prime-minister by publicly accusing him of lying in performing his duties.’ In Manisa, on the other hand, three youths are under investigation for ‘defamation’ for displaying a cartoon by Brazilian cartoonist Carlos Latuf showing the prime-minister as a ‘tree-eating scoop’ in a demonstration on 10 July..."

For turkish-speakers...

"... İstanbul - ’daki Gezi Parkı gösterileri sürerken 12 Haziran’da Kayseri Cumhuriyet Meydanı’nda 150 kişinin katıldığı basın açıklaması yapıldı. Ali Yıldırım ve Ümit Kartal yaptıkları konuşmalarda Erdoğan’ın konuşmalarından örnekler vererek “Yalan söylüyor” dedi. Kayseri Savcılığı, Yıldırım ve Kartal hakkında ‘Başbakan’ı görevi sebebiyle alenen yalancılıkla itham etmek suretiyle hakaret etmek’ iddiasıyla dava açtı. Manisa’da da, 10 Temmuz’daki gösteride, Brezilyalı karikatürist Carlos Latuff’a ait, Başbakan’ı ‘ağacı ısıran kepçe’ şeklinde gösteren karikatürü astıkları için üç gence ‘hakaret’ savıyla soruşturma açıldı..."

http://www.radikal.com.tr/turkiye/yalan ... ma-1155692

[bill cobbett]

The EU progress report on Turkey singled out President Gul for a bit of praise.

Now, whether he's just a more polished and more statesmanlike version of the Istanbul Street-Fighter that is Erdogan remains to be seen.

He is, after all, a member of the same AKP party.

Here is Gul reported in Hurriyet talking of his pride at the start of the Gezi Park protests under the headline...

I’m proud of Gezi protests’ beginning, President Gül says

"... Turkish President Abdullah Gül has noted his pride at the beginning of the Gezi protests, along with similar demonstrations, during a meeting in New York.

The start of the Gezi protests stemmed from environmental consciousness and urban concerns, he said at a study breakfast organized by Merrill Lynch today, noting that similar concerns were evident in Washington, London and New York..."

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/im-pro ... sCatID=338

[bill cobbett]

The following story is about a month old but it is a new angle.

The Istanbul Biennial is an outdoor city-wide arts festival which had to retreat to indoor venues as a result of Chemical Erdy's crack-down on the Gezi Park protests.

Various sources have covered it.

Here's a couple of snippets from the GB Guardian...

"... A crackdown on anti-government protests forced the art show to abandon its more edgy ideas. But the spirit of Taksim Square is not entirely absent..."

"... This year's event, entitled Mom, Am I Barbarian? addresses much of the dissatisfaction with prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's increasingly authoritarian regime. Turkish artist Halil Altindere's film Wonderland captures the anger and frustration of Roma youths from Istanbul's Sulukule district, whose community was forced out of its historic settlement by a redevelopment that raised house prices tenfold. The darkly humorous hip-hop video shows boys in mock fights with mechanical diggers and setting fire to a security guard. Aggressive lyrics ram the point home: "We pissed on the foundations of the newly built blocks ... My town will be torn down. Soon Sulukule will be home to the bourgeoisie..."

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/s ... under-fire

Here's a picky of one of the installations, a wrecking-ball, symbolising Erdogan's desire to leave his legacy on Istanbul with his grandiose Ottoman plans for Istanbul...

[Demonax]

MASS TORTURE ON THE STREETS OF TURKEY

FOLLOWING ON FROM the recent incriminating report from Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) comes Amnesty International’s detailed investigation into this year’s unprecedented anti-government demonstrations. Released early October & weighing in at over twice the size of the PHR study, Amnesty’s in-depth research on the protests that engulfed the country throughout June goes even further in presenting evidence to reach the same, yet necessary, conclusion. In a crack-ridden nutshell, the report — ‘Gezi Park Protests: Brutal Denial of the Right to Peaceful Assembly in Turkey‘ — affirms that government-backed human rights abuses took place on a massive scale. Across 72 pages, Amnesty documents the many victims of systematic violence at the hands of the state police, corroborating its case against the ruling party by making clear Turkey’s obligations, under both national & international law, to protect — not effectively crush — the basic democratic right to protest peacefully

http://istanbuldispatches.com/2013/10/1 ... ezi-abuse/

[Demonax]

Here is the video that accompanies the Amnesty International Report on the protests in Turkey:

When Turkey took torture to the streets

[bill cobbett]

Even a Muezzen (chap who calls to and leads prayers) is not safe from Erdogan's retribution against the Gezi Park protests.

Fuet Yildirim was the Muezzin who contradicted Erdogan's claim that the Gezi Park protesters who were being treated for their injuries in his mosque were drinking alcohol. He has now been moved for a second time, moves seen as punishments.

From Hurriyet http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/muezzi ... sCatID=339

"... Fuat Yıldırım, the muezzin of the mosque that sheltered injured Gezi Park protesters, was displaced for a second time since coming to the center of a controversy, the daily Hürriyet reported on its website.

Yıldırım, who disagreed with the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s statements when he said he did not see alcoholic beverages being consumed in the mosque by protesters, was assigned to the Arap Mosque in Galata. Last month, he was placed at Kayabaşı Mosque in Başakşehir.

“I paid a heavy price, I am still paying, and apparently, I will continue to pay it,” Yıldırım was quoted as saying by the Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy chief Gürsel Tekin, who was said to have spoken with the muezzin. “But I have a clear conscience....”

[Tim Drayton]

Ankara municipality has exploited the recent religious holiday to move construction equipment into the Middle Eastern Technical University campus, the scene of protests against a new road that the municipality plans to construct there. The campus’s boundary fence was broken down to permit the machinery to enter. Witness Kamil Kancıoğlu says that he saw hundreds of trees being knocked down.

Municipal workers are surrounding the area, their arms linked, and it is alleged that they have been instructed to prevent anybody accessing the area, and to beat people up if necessary. Also, two riot control vehicles and tens of rapid response force police officers have been positioned at the entrance to the university.

A group of about fifteen academics congregated to observe what was going on and the police, without giving any warning, intervened using tear gas. In the incident, a female academic was injured in the foot.

http://www.cumhuriyet.com.tr/?hn=447584&kn=7&ka=4&kb=7