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EDHS Contemporary World Affairs -> Discussion Topics, Week H -> Arab Spring goes to Turkey? 'no Turkish Spring'
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Is Turkey's Government going to fall next? [1 vote(s)]

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KingWesleyIII


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Arab Spring goes to Turkey? 'no Turkish Spring'
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Protests 'no Turkish Spring', says PM Erdogan

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22753418

PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan says four days of anti-government protests do not constitute a Turkish Spring.

At a news conference before a trip to Morocco, he said the protests were organised by extremists and accused the opposition of provoking "his citizens".

The protests initially targeted plans to build on a treasured Istanbul park but have spread into nationwide unrest.

The first death in the unrest has been reported, with doctors saying a man was killed after being hit by a taxi.

The demonstrator, 20-year-old Mehmet Ayvalitas, died after the car ignored warnings to stop and ploughed into a crowd of protestors on Sunday in the Mayis district of Istanbul, said the Turkish Doctors' Union (TTB).

In a statement, the TTB also called for:

  • An end to the violence
  • The police to be pulled back
  • All those detained during the protests to be released

In another development, a public sector trade union confederation, Kesk, says it will begin a two-day strike starting on Tuesday in support of the demonstrators.

The left-wing confederation accused the government of being anti-democratic and carrying out "state terror".

Continue reading the main story

'Extremists'

Mr Erdogan said during a televised news conference: "There are those attending these events organised by extremists. This is not about Gezi Park anymore. These are organised events with affiliations both within Turkey and abroad.

"The main opposition party CHP has provoked my innocent citizens. Those who make news [and] call these events the Turkish Spring do not know Turkey."

Meanwhile, Turkish President Abdullah Gul urged calm and defended protesters' rights to hold peaceful demonstrations.

"If there are different opinions, different situations, different points of view and dissent, there is nothing more natural that being able to voice those differences," he was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency.

"The messages delivered with good intentions have been received."

Protesters say the Turkish government is becoming increasingly authoritarian.

They fear Mr Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) is trying to impose conservative Islamic values on the officially secular country and infringe on their personal freedoms, correspondents say.

 

 

Officials say more than 1,700 people have been arrested in demonstrations in 67 towns and cities, though many have since been released.

Clashes in Taksim square in Istanbul 3 June 2013
Map of protest locations in Turkey and Istanbul


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CelesteSalas


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I admire that the poeple stood up for what they believed in, but the park is so little...I think they can let it go. Howwever the government backlash was completely tyrannical and uneccesary.

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