There is rioting in Istanbul. the police responded to a demonstration yesterday against the closure of a park in Taksim Square in Istanbul with tear gas, water cannons and baton charges.
The police seem to have gravely underestimated the anger of the demonstrators who are now being joined by many thousands of protesters marching over the Bosphurus bridge to join the demonstration in Taksim Square.
For those of you who have never been to Istanbul, Taksim Square is in the European part of Istanbul on the north side of the Golden Horn. It is essentially the heart of what in the United States would be called the "business district".
Gezi Park in Taksim Square is probably the last green space in the area. The plan is to uproot the trees and build another shopping mall. This will allegedly recreate an ancient Ottoman military barracks which stood on the site.
The demonstrators are not convinced. Not convinced enough to physically seek to prevent the bulldozers moving in and to take on the police when they tried to intervene.
Other elements have converged and the issue appears to have coalesced opposition to the Erdogan government. It seems clear that a variety of forces are involved. From the left and green agendas to old Kemalist elements, keen to retain the secular nature of the republic (and by extension) the power of the armed forces.
This is in the very nature of social conflict, that unexpected consequences arise from uncontrollable social contradictions. Without doubt, elements of the armed forces of Turkey are looking to see if advantage can be wrung from this situation.
The islamist government of Erdogan has long been a thorn in the flesh of the old-style Kemalists that still clutter up the higher ranks of the military.
Using these disturbances in Gezi Park as a pretext for a coup is not an unthinkable proposition. The last military coup in Turkey was in 1980 and lasted for three years. The Turkish Army (Turkey still practises compulsory military service for adult males) is second only to the United States Army within the NATO alliance in absolute numbers.
The relationship of this military machine to the government of the Republic is crucial to the survival of civilian rule. The military serves to prevent civilian governments being too liberal in their outlook. Everyone understands the limitations of "democracy" in Turkey.
The army is there ultimately to ensure that the Turks are worked to death and forced to export their labour all over the rest of Europe.
The army also exists to make sure the ethnic minorities in Turkey, principally the Kurds, don't get too unruly and start getting the idea that they have any rights to a nationality or self-determination.
Most of all the Turkish Army (in NATO) exists to provide a counterbalance to Iran in the region. Turkey also provides a major proportion of the ISAF force in Afghanistan.
So, to hell with the Turkish working class and the Kurds and the democratic wishes of the population, they will get only the government which big business can tolerate. If their patience is frayed, or their interests are challenged, the army awaits in the wings.
I had the privilege of dealing with many Turkish and Kurdish colleagues during my working life in the Netherlands and Germany. Many had left Turkey clandestinely (this was at the time of the last military coup) and were fleeing from persecution. This is the generation which remembers and is now wary of the possible consequences of military intervention.
It is the younger generation which now is taking on the state in Gezi Park. These may be the ones to whom the military will seek to deliver a salutary lesson. In doing so it will also lay down a marker to the civilian government. In effect saying, "If you can't preserve public order, we will".
Seeking to predict the course of events in Turkey from a keyboard in a farm in north east Scotland is a difficult thing to do. The Turks though are our neighbours. What happens there should interest us.
I never had to go to Turkey to be tear gassed by someone who thought I had no right to protest anything. The billowing clouds of gas I have seen on the footage of the Gezi Park protests and the water cannon which can rip up pavements serve only to remind one of the limits of freedom.
You can say anything you like in Turkey (despite its deserved reputation as one of the worst places in the world for persecuting journalists), but only so long as no-one listens.
The police seem to have gravely underestimated the anger of the demonstrators who are now being joined by many thousands of protesters marching over the Bosphurus bridge to join the demonstration in Taksim Square.
For those of you who have never been to Istanbul, Taksim Square is in the European part of Istanbul on the north side of the Golden Horn. It is essentially the heart of what in the United States would be called the "business district".
Gezi Park in Taksim Square is probably the last green space in the area. The plan is to uproot the trees and build another shopping mall. This will allegedly recreate an ancient Ottoman military barracks which stood on the site.
The demonstrators are not convinced. Not convinced enough to physically seek to prevent the bulldozers moving in and to take on the police when they tried to intervene.
Other elements have converged and the issue appears to have coalesced opposition to the Erdogan government. It seems clear that a variety of forces are involved. From the left and green agendas to old Kemalist elements, keen to retain the secular nature of the republic (and by extension) the power of the armed forces.
This is in the very nature of social conflict, that unexpected consequences arise from uncontrollable social contradictions. Without doubt, elements of the armed forces of Turkey are looking to see if advantage can be wrung from this situation.
The islamist government of Erdogan has long been a thorn in the flesh of the old-style Kemalists that still clutter up the higher ranks of the military.
Using these disturbances in Gezi Park as a pretext for a coup is not an unthinkable proposition. The last military coup in Turkey was in 1980 and lasted for three years. The Turkish Army (Turkey still practises compulsory military service for adult males) is second only to the United States Army within the NATO alliance in absolute numbers.
The relationship of this military machine to the government of the Republic is crucial to the survival of civilian rule. The military serves to prevent civilian governments being too liberal in their outlook. Everyone understands the limitations of "democracy" in Turkey.
The army is there ultimately to ensure that the Turks are worked to death and forced to export their labour all over the rest of Europe.
The army also exists to make sure the ethnic minorities in Turkey, principally the Kurds, don't get too unruly and start getting the idea that they have any rights to a nationality or self-determination.
Most of all the Turkish Army (in NATO) exists to provide a counterbalance to Iran in the region. Turkey also provides a major proportion of the ISAF force in Afghanistan.
So, to hell with the Turkish working class and the Kurds and the democratic wishes of the population, they will get only the government which big business can tolerate. If their patience is frayed, or their interests are challenged, the army awaits in the wings.
I had the privilege of dealing with many Turkish and Kurdish colleagues during my working life in the Netherlands and Germany. Many had left Turkey clandestinely (this was at the time of the last military coup) and were fleeing from persecution. This is the generation which remembers and is now wary of the possible consequences of military intervention.
It is the younger generation which now is taking on the state in Gezi Park. These may be the ones to whom the military will seek to deliver a salutary lesson. In doing so it will also lay down a marker to the civilian government. In effect saying, "If you can't preserve public order, we will".
Seeking to predict the course of events in Turkey from a keyboard in a farm in north east Scotland is a difficult thing to do. The Turks though are our neighbours. What happens there should interest us.
I never had to go to Turkey to be tear gassed by someone who thought I had no right to protest anything. The billowing clouds of gas I have seen on the footage of the Gezi Park protests and the water cannon which can rip up pavements serve only to remind one of the limits of freedom.
You can say anything you like in Turkey (despite its deserved reputation as one of the worst places in the world for persecuting journalists), but only so long as no-one listens.
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