[Big Rob]

Turkey protests: Clashes continue despite PM's warning

I suppose in this case there can be no argument that the protesters win.

So sad.... The great secular state from 'muzzies'.... reduced to this babble....

[The Red Arrow]

Uh-oh...

Anti-Erdogan protests in Turkey

Protests erupted in 11 Turkish cities this evening with protesters demanding the resignations of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan after an alleged audio recording of him discussing with his son a plan to hide an amount of money running into tens of millions from a police anti-corruption operations was aired.

http://www.neurope.eu/article/anti-erdo ... sts-turkey" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[new puritan]

All kicking off over there at the moment. Erdogan seems to be losing control - again, though, he's helped by a relatively weak and inchoate opposition - and has blocked Twitter because people have been using it to share recordings of him indulging in dodgy deals.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is facing the most difficult challenge of his premiership. Corruption scandals, a weakening economy and a draining battle with the Gülen movement have the leader reeling ahead of important local elections.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/eur ... 59453.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Another good piece here from Paul Mason.

http://blogs.channel4.com/paul-mason-bl ... -world/587" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[new puritan]

YouTube has now been blocked as well as Twitter - though these filters aren't too hard to get around of course - after another recording emerged.

The account posted what it presented as a recording of intelligence chief Hakan Fidan discussing possible military operations in Syria with Davutoglu, Deputy Chief of military Staff Yasar Guler and other senior officials.

Speaking to reporters in Kutahya, Davutoglu confirmed the meeting took place and said, "A cyber attack has been carried out against the Turkish Republic, our state and our valued nation. This is a clear declaration of war against the Turkish state and our nation."

Turkish authorities said they had taken an "administrative measure" to impose a block on YouTube, a week after they blocked access to microblogging site Twitter.

The conversation appeared to centre on a possible operation to secure the tomb of Suleyman Shah, grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Empire, in an area of northern Syria largely controlled by militant Islamists.

Ankara regards the tomb as sovereign Turkish territory under a treaty signed with France in 1921, when Syria was under French rule. About two dozen Turkish special forces soldiers permanently guard it.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/ ... 7420140327" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

What Reuters isn't reporting is that (assuming the recording is genuine) those involved appeared to be discussing a false flag operation at the Suleyman Shah tomb, apparently to give the Turkish government - which it's probably fair to say is in need of a distraction - an excuse to wade in to Syria.

Ahmet Davutoğlu:
“Prime Minister said that in current conjuncture, this attack (on Suleiman Shah Tomb) must be seen as an opportunity for us.”
Hakan Fidan:
“I’ll send 4 men from Syria, if that’s what it takes. I’ll make up a cause of war by ordering a missile attack on Turkey; we can also prepare an attack on Suleiman Shah Tomb if necessary.”
Feridun Sinirlioğlu:
“Our national security has become a common, cheap domestic policy outfit.”
Yaşar Güler:
“It’s a direct cause of war. I mean, what’re going to do is a direct cause of war.”

http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1s15hj6" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[new puritan]

Erdogan has implicitly acknowledged that the recording is genuine.

A YouTube account posted what it presented as a recording of intelligence chief Hakan Fidan discussing possible military operations in Syria with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Deputy Chief of military Staff Yasar Guler and other top officials.

"They even leaked a national security meeting. This is villainous, this is dishonesty...Who are you serving by doing audio surveillance of such an important meeting?" Erdogan declared before supporters at a rally ahead of March 30 local polls that will be a key test of his support amid a corruption scandal.

http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/tu ... -recording" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Michael Roberts wrote a good piece on the economic factors behind the unrest last year which is worth reading.

On the surface, it would appear that Turkish capital is moving on and up without much problem. And it is true that economic growth has accelerated in recent years while foreign investment has flooded in to exploit a labour force coming into the urban areas from the impoverished countryside – a classic emerging capitalist development. But this apparent economic success is still founded on the shaky young legs of a weak capitalism and is also weighed down by corruption, religious backwardness and scant regard for human rights and laws. Inequality of income, as measured by the gini coefficient, according to the IMF, is around 40, making it higher than the US, the most unequal of the advanced capitalist economies and the highest in emerging Europe, apart from Russia.

http://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2 ... the-woods/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[The Red Arrow]

Turkey hijacks servers in social media crackdown
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-26818104" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Big Rob]

A 75-Year-Old Woman Has Found the Most Powerful Way to Protest in Turkey

[The Red Arrow]

This doesn't bode well...

Turkey expands secret service powers

A law has come into force in Turkey giving the secret services greater powers of surveillance and extending immunity for its agents.

The law also provides for prison terms of up to 10 years for journalists who publish leaked information.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-27172043" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[The Red Arrow]

Here we go again...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-27234646" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[new puritan]

205 dead so far at the Soma coal mine in western Turkey. This is being reported as an accident but as usual there is real human negligence involved - just a couple of years ago the mine's owner was crowing about cost reductions.

The owner of Soma Holding, which controls the Turkish coal mine where an explosion killed at least 205 workers, had said they managed to significantly reduce costs after acquiring the mine from the state, speaking in an interview two years ago.

Alp Gürkan, the owner of the Aegean conglomerate Soma Holding, had told Hürriyet columnist Vahap Munyar that his company managed to reduce the cost of mining coal from $130-140 to $23.8 per ton “thanks to the operation methods of the private sector,” in an interview that was published on Sept. 30, 2012 by daily Hürriyet.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/soma-m ... rview.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Also, according to C4's Alex Thomson, the wife of the mine operator's chief executive was elected as a regional MP for Erdogan's AKP just last month - the same month that the Erdogan government prevented a safety probe into conditions at the mine.

There were calls on social media for protests in front of the Istanbul headquarters of Soma Komur Isletmeleri, the operator of the mine. The company said in a brief statement late on Tuesday that there had been "a grave accident" caused by an explosion in a substation but gave few other details.

Erdogan cancelled a visit to Albania, scheduled for Wednesday, and is instead going to the site of the disaster, his office said. President Abdullah Gul also cancelled a trip to China scheduled for Thursday in order to travel to Soma.

At Istanbul's Taksim Square, two left-wing opposition newspaper vendors read out headlines to silent morning commuters. "Turkey is a graveyard for workers", and "This wasn't an accident, this was negligence."

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/05/1 ... IM20140514" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[The Red Arrow]

'Accidents happen.'

Mr Erdogan visited the site at around 1pm today. In a style that has become well-expected from the Turkish leader, he has brushed aside any accusations of wrongdoing and has pointed to similar disasters in countries including the UK as an example that accidents happen.

During a press conference he cited 19th-century Britain — “I went back in British history. Some 204 people died there after a mine collapsed in 1838. In 1866, 369 miners died in Britain. In an explosion in 1984 (sic), 290 people died there.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 71384.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Shameful.

[The Red Arrow]

Locals had complained about haphazard practices at the mine, whose owners are linked to Erdoğan's governing Justice and Development party (AKP), and skirmishes broke out between youths and police outside the local AKP office.

Tensions were high as hundreds of relatives and miners gathered outside the mine, waiting for news. Women wailed in grief as others shouted angrily at local authorities, and riot police with gas masks and water cannon stood by.

Coming in the wake of multiple scandals implicating the ruling party and Erdoğan's family over the past six months, as well as nationwide protests against his robust style of rule, there were prompt accusations that crony capitalism had contributed to the disaster, and allegations that local authorities had failed to enforce safety regulations and ensure decent working conditions.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/m ... ivors-fade" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Bones McCoy]

'Accidents happen.'

Mr Erdogan visited the site at around 1pm today. In a style that has become well-expected from the Turkish leader, he has brushed aside any accusations of wrongdoing and has pointed to similar disasters in countries including the UK as an example that accidents happen.

During a press conference he cited 19th-century Britain — “I went back in British history. Some 204 people died there after a mine collapsed in 1838. In 1866, 369 miners died in Britain. In an explosion in 1984 (sic), 290 people died there.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 71384.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Shameful.

Bragging about dragging a great nation back to 19th century standards.

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk must be spinning in his grave.

[Big Rob]

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk must be spinning in his grave.

QFT.

[Kreuzberger]

This could be the final undoing of this bastard.

"Just two weeks ago, Erdogan's party rejected a proposal for a commission to inspect safety conditions at mines in Soma. It's that history, not the mining accidents of the 19th and 20th centuries, that Erdogan must reckon with."

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2 ... htlessness