Four reasons why the stand-off in Turkey is here to stay Turkish police stormed Istanbul’s Taksim Square on Tuesday as demonstrators entered their 11th day of protests denouncing what they see as the increasingly authoritarian tendencies of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister. The demonstrations that rocked Turkey’s largest city and others including Ankara and Izmir, have become a daily event and the stand-off with the government continues. Here are some reasons why: 1. Tayyip is not for turning Mr Erdogan spent most of last week on a tour of north Africa, sticking to his line that the demonstrators should just pack up and go home. Perhaps there was a possibility he might have changed his stance on returning; and indeed he consulted with party elders on Saturday. But then, on Sunday, he went into barnstorming campaign mode, making six speeches in which he slammed the protesters. He’d clearly made his choice. Mr Erdogan has signalled some concessions – he no longer talks about including a shopping mall in the building he wants to place in Gezi Park, the epicentre of the demonstrations, and he will meet some protesters on Wednesday. But there’s no question that he intends to push ahead with the building project, even though an Istanbul court has put a staying order on it. The building in question, a reconstruction of an Ottoman barracks that was the base for a 1909 rebellion of Islamist reactionaries against the secular Young Turks, has symbolic value. And even more important, the prime minister plainly sees it as a question of credibility. 2. Taksim will be retaken – but maybe not quite yet The police have pushed into Istanbul’s main square firing tear gas and dismantling barricades, but fighting continues. No state can allow the heart of its biggest city to be a no-go zone for its own officials, dotted with burnt-out and upturned vehicles. Before this latest move by the police, some backers of the ruling AK party (AKP) had argued that the smart thing to do was to wait, undermine the protesters’ credibility and demonstrate the government’s popular support, rather than rush into the kind of police offensive that will further worsen Turkey’s international image. Another school of thought suggested splitting the difference, so the police retake Taksim, but not the adjoining Gezi Park. In any case, one big question remains: how do you prevent another huge demonstration flocking to the square the day after you retake it? 3. Social tensions are on the rise Mr Erdogan has accused demonstrators of taking beer into a mosque (a reference to an occasion when a mosque served as a clinic for wounded demonstrators and a can of beer subsequently mysteriously appeared) and of attacking women headscarves. He has compared the current confrontation with his political battle six years ago over whether Turkey could choose a president whose wife wore the headscarf. On that occasion, Mr Erdogan emerged stronger. He called early elections and increased his share of the vote. This time, the Islamist-rooted AKP says early elections are not on the agenda, but Mr Erdogan has returned to the stump with gusto. Next weekend the AKP will call out supporters in what it hopes will be mass rallies in Ankara and Istanbul. 4. The effect of Taksim will be long-lasting but the prime minister isn’t going anywhere It remains highly improbable that Turkey’s dysfunctional opposition parties will win the general election scheduled for 2015, or that anyone can beat Mr Erdogan in a presidential election next year. Still, some of the prime minister’s ambitions – such as setting up a new, more powerful executive presidency for himself to occupy – seem further away than before. And with images of police tear-gassing demonstrators broadcast around the world, the damage to Turkey’s international reputation has been done. ft/intl/cms/s/0/d356d5ea-d1e6-11e2-9336-00144feab7de.html#axzz2VvxTGZzG
Posted on: Tue, 11 Jun 2013 18:36:20 +0000
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