Erdogan's mishandling of protests has exposed the myth of a stable Turkey

BY:PATRICK COCKBURN

There is something almost comic in the way the missteps of the Turkish government turned a small demonstration aimed at preserving sycamore trees in Taksim Square from the developers' bulldozers into the biggest and most widespread popular protest ever seen in Turkey. The Turkish security forces made the classic mistake of being pictured on television and social media publicly assaulting peaceable protesters with water cannon and pepper spray. Just enough violence was used to enrage and provoke while wholly failing to intimidate. There was a time when brutality by the security forces was easier to keep off TV screens by censorship or frightening journalists and media-owners. But these mechanisms no longer work when people have a multitude of TV channels inside and outside the country to choose from. Running documentaries on penguins, as CNN Turkey notoriously did, simply creates a vacuum of information which is rapidly filled by protesters. The government's version of what is happening becomes self-marginalised and is ignored. It is astonishing that skilled politicians such as the Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and those around him should make so many mistakes in such a short time. It is easy to why Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia and Hosni Mubarak of Egypt should have miscalculated popular reaction to repression at the start of the Arab uprisings in 2011, because as rulers of police states their approach to public opinion was to ignore it. But how did Erdogan fall into the same trap? An obvious explanation is simply the arrogance of those who have held power for too long. They ignore advice and demonise and underrate their critics. There is nothing very Turkish in this. The same was true of Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair who, like Erdogan, had each won three election victories and were facing an electorate that blamed them for anything that went wrong. The parallel should be between Turkey and Western Europe, not between Turkey and Middle East states. One of the many reasons why foreigners find Turkey so difficult to understand is that they imagine that its politics have similarities with other Muslim states in the region, which are not there. It is true that Turkey has had four military coups since 1960, which vie with anything that happened in Iraq or Argentina for the cruelty of the repression. In the 1980 military coup 450 people died under torture, 50 were executed and many others disappeared. At least 178,000 people were arrested and almost all tortured, while 64,000 were jailed. This makes Turkish politics sound like Iraq under the Ba'ath Party or Argentina under the junta. But Turkey never ceased to have elections that, unlike in Latin American and Middle Eastern police states, mattered in the distribution of power. Even at the height of military rule, Turkey never wholly ceased to be a democratic state in which powerful parties stood for election and the outcome was not fixed from above as in Mubarak's Egypt or Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Foreign commentary on the Taksim Square protests over the last week speaks of the competition between "secularism" and "Islam" in Turkey. But in almost all cases it is evident that the writers have not taken on board what these words mean in a Turkish context. "Secularism" in Turkey brings with it the same intensity of belief as a religious cult, attracting at one time the officer class, the professionals, the civil service, the security service and many of the well educated. But at the heart of Kemal Ataturk's legacy is not secularism, which appealed primarily to the elite, but a super-heated nationalism that had an appeal to all Turkish social classes, though not to all ethnic communities. Hence the great difficulty Erdogan may have in bringing to an end to the 30-year guerrilla war with the Kurds of south-east Turkey despite the ceasefire agreement that was reached in March. The Taksim Square protests and Turkey's draining entanglement in the Syrian civil war have brought to an end for the moment talk of a resurgent Turkey emulating the old Ottoman empire in terms of influence in the Middle East and even in the Balkans and around the Black Sea. This always seemed to me to exaggerate the political, military and economic strength of Erdogan's Turkey. The idea of "the new Ottomans" carried hidden dangers that Ankara was slow to understand. First, what was the region where Turkey was going to exercise its enhanced influence? It was primarily among countries such as Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Iran, notoriously the most dangerous places in the world for interfering foreign states. The US, at the height of its power, suffered two of its biggest defeats here: the overthrow of the Shah in 1979 and its calamitous occupation of Iraq in 2003-11. But now Turkey was confidently lurching into the same quagmire in the expectation of swift enhancement of its influence. There is not much talk of "the new Ottomans" these days. Erdogan's gamble that Bashar al-Assad and his government would swiftly collapse has not paid off. Instead Turkey has a raging war beginning to spill across its 500-mile southern frontier with Syria. Syrian leaders have been enjoying themselves by applying Erdogan's criticisms of the Syrian regime to Turkey and demanding that he resign. Turkey has ended up acting as proxy for the US in Syria, something that is highly unpopular in Turkey. Erdogan may feel good about his easy access to the White House, but he has made some serious enemies in Tehran and Damascus. There is no reason to suppose that they have anything to do with the current protests, but Turkey will have difficulty reaching an accommodation with its own Kurds and the Kurds in Iraq in the face of Iranian opposition. Turkey is peculiarly ill equipped to get entangled in sectarian and ethnic conflicts now exploding in Syria and Iraq. It has been unable to resolve its own Kurdish issue at home and is unlikely to be able to deal with inter-ethnic and sectarian conflicts abroad. It may not have started out intending to be part of a Sunni Muslim offensive against the Shia or allied to the Sunni monarchs of the Gulf, but it has ended up that way. Its wooing of the Iraqi Kurds and their oil and gas will be forcefully opposed by the Shia in Baghdad and Tehran. Erdogan's mistakes in dealing with the Taksim Square protests and the failures of Turkish foreign policy are not irretrievable ones. But the weaknesses of the Turkish state and the depth of the political divisions within Turkey are becoming more apparent. The demonstrations are also highlighting failings that had previously been masked by Turkey's economic success at a time when much of Europe is mired in recession. Such impressions are important because the flow of foreign capital into Turkey depends on a sense that the country is stable compared to its neighbours. Nightly riots in western Turkey, bombs exploding in the south of the country and the possibility of renewed Kurdish unrest in the east is sapping the belief inside and outside Turkey that the country is still one of the world's success stories.

Xi, Obama hold second meeting on economic ties

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama held the second meeting here on Saturday to exchange views on economic ties. The two leaders informed each other of their domestic economic situation and discussed the economic relations between China and the United States. Before heading into the meeting, Xi and Obama took a walk at the picturesque Sunnylands, a 200-acre (81-hectare) Annenberg estate in Rancho Mirage, California. At their first meeting on Friday afternoon, the two leaders agreed to build a new type of relations between China and the United States, the world's two largest economies. Noting that their relationship now stands at a new starting point in history, Xi said the two countries share important converging interests. The Chinese president called on the two sides to work together to build a new type of relations between major countries in an innovative and active way so as to serve the fundamental interests of the two peoples and to promote development and progress of human society. Obama, for his part, said the U.S.-China relationship is important not only for the prosperity and security of the two countries, but also for the Asia Pacific region and the whole world. He said that his country welcomes the continuing peaceful rise of China as a world power and it is actually in the interest of the United States that China continues on the path of success. They also exchanged views on the domestic and foreign policies of the two countries as well as international and regional issues of common concern. At a joint press conference following their Friday meeting, Xi said both sides agreed to expand all levels of dialogues and communications to strengthen mutual understanding and trust. They agreed to step up cooperation in extensive fields such as economy and trade, energy, environment, people-to-people and cultural exchanges as well as local level exchanges, in order to deepen the shared interests of the two countries and expand them to all areas, Xi said. "We should also improve and strengthen the military-to-military relationship between the two countries and promote the building of the new model of military relationship between the two sides," he said. "We should also improve coordination on macro-economic policies, strengthen cooperation which can contribute to our respective development, and promote strong, sustainable and balanced economic growth in the Asia Pacific region and the world at large," Xi said. Obama said both Xi and himself recognized the unique opportunity to take the U.S.-China relationship to a new level, adding he is absolutely committed to not missing this opportunity. Xi arrived in California Thursday after wrapping up a three-nation Latin American tour.

Ankara protesters clash with Turkish police

Police in the Turkish capital Ankara have used tear gas and water cannon on demonstrators as anti-government protests get into a second week. About 5,000 people had gathered in Kizilay Square in the city centre. Protesters and police also clashed in Istanbul, Turkey's largest city. Turkey has seen a week of civil unrest sparked by a police crackdown on a local protest over an Istanbul park. Earlier, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan ruled out early elections. "You don't decide on early elections because people are marching on the streets," he said. Local and presidential elections would take place next year as scheduled, said an official from Mr Erdogan's governing AKP (Justice and Development Party). A general election is due in 2015. The AKP has been in power in Turkey since 2002. Protesters say the government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and imposing Islamist values on a secular state. In Istanbul, supporters of three rival football clubs - Fenerbahce, Galatasaray and Besiktas - set aside their differences to march together to Taksim Square, the epicentre of the protests. "We're here against fascism, all together, shoulder to shoulder. Actually we should be thanking Tayyip Erdogan for bringing us together. He united the entire country [against him]," an unnamed Fenerbahce supporter told the Associated Press.The protests mushroomed after police cracked down on activists defending an Istanbul park from developers. Mr Erdogan has called the protests undemocratic but his deputy apologised for police violence and met representatives of the protesters. On Thursday night, thousands of people waited at the airport to welcome Mr Erdogan home from a North African visit - the first major show of support for him since the protests began. The prime minister has vowed to push ahead with the redevelopment of Gezi Park, a rare green space in Istanbul's densely built-up core. Police and riot vehicles withdrew from Taksim Square last Saturday in an apparent bid to reduce tension. However, clashes have broken out since then in other parts of Istanbul. Four people - including a police officer - are reported to have died, thousands have been injured and hundreds arrested in the unrest which began on 31 May.

Bangladesh: The cost of fashion

President Obama: Nobody is listening to your calls

After reports revealed the U.S. government's practice of tracking private citizens' phone and internet use, President Obama on Friday sought to downplay the invasiveness of the procedure, assuring a California audience that "nobody is listening to your phone calls," and that any data tracking is overseen by all three branches of the U.S. government.

Afghanistan: Women in parliament receive threats - from fellow lawmakers

A backlash of conservative parliamentarians and protests against a key piece of pro-women's rights legislation may indicate the beginning of political efforts to once again curtail women’s rights.

It takes a lot to rattle Shukria Barakzai, a staunch defender of women's rights and one of more than 20 very outspoken women members of parliament in Afghanistan.But even though she’s run two successful parliamentary campaigns and has taken on conservative members of Afghan society, she is shocked by how easily some male members of parliament are now publicly threatening their female counterparts in the middle of parliamentary meetings. “A [male] member of parliament stood up in our general meeting yesterday and said parliament is not a place for women, your time is up here, you must not pursue this fight for women’s rights,” says Ms. Barakzai. For many of the Afghan women leaders, dealing with sexism and discrimination isn’t anything new. But women's rights activists say that male parliamentarians have recently intensified a war of words inside parliament. It’s a war that many Afghan women worry echoes a greater issue in society and could reverse public tolerance and support for women’s rights. “I’ve noticed the rhetoric around women’s issues has changed, and conservative members of society and parliament are once again feeling safe to verbally attack women publicly,” says Barakzai. “The Afghan government isn’t doing anything about these kinds of public threats and attacks on women. It is almost as if they agree with the conservatives.”The actions of the male parliamentarians are just one of many reminders to Barakzai and other women here that as the international security forces, foreign diplomats, and advocacy organizations prepare to leave the country in 2014, Afghan women will be left without a key source of support. “I feel like Afghan women are right at the gate of realizing their civil and political rights but the international community is too busy packing up to notice that these rights are already starting to erode,” says Horia Mosadiq, a Human Rights Researcher for Amnesty International.

Rise in violence against women

High levels of domestic violence against women and the targeting of women leaders by the Taliban and other armed groups only compound matters. The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission documented more than 4,000 cases of violence against women from March 21 to Oct. 21, 2012 – a rise of 28 percent compared with the same period for 2011. Though some of the increase in violence is attributed to growing public awareness and better reporting of violence against women, it is still concerning, say activists. Several women leaders were also killed in 2012, including two directors of the Department of Women’s Affairs, a branch of the Afghan government, in the eastern province of Laghman. Both women were strong advocates for the equal treatment of women. “Afghan women have faced these challenges all along, but the difference now is that the timeline for the international community to completely disengage is nearing, after which these conservatives will feel even more forceful in imposing their restricted views and values over people and reversing many of the legal and professional gains Afghan women have made in recent years,” says Orzala Ashraf Nemat, an Afghan women's rights activist and founder of the nonprofit organization Humanitarian Assistance for the Women and Children of Afghanistan (HAWCA).

‘The mood is changing’

In mid-May, conservative members of the Afghan parliament lashed out against a 2009 presidential decree that was signed into law by President Hamid Karzai on the Elimination of Violence Against Women. They claimed that the EVAW law does not represent the fundamental tenets of Islamic law and is being imposed on Afghan women by Western countries. The law is widely considered to be one of the country’s biggest accomplishments for women in the past decade: It criminalizes 22 acts of violence against women, including marital rape and child marriage. But recently some conservative groups, including male members of parliament, have publicly said that if Afghan women push for too much freedom, it will divide society and intensify the conflict. “The mood is changing and we see in parliament and elsewhere that conservative forces are publicly pushing back on women’s rights because they think Afghan women don’t have support from foreign countries and advocacy organizations anymore,” Ms. Nemat says. Barakzai and other Afghan women’s rights activists say that the United States, Britain, and Afghanistan’s other key allies need to continue to push the Afghan government to support laws such as the EVAW law, and action plans that not only increase women’s rights but protect the hard-earned gains Afghan women have made since 2001. One of these plans is the 10-year National Action Plan for the Women of Afghanistan, which was launched by the Afghan government in 2008 and calls for changes in six sectors that are critical in accelerating the improvement of the status of women in the country. However, the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, which is charged with most of the responsibility for implementing this plan, is allocated only 0.1 percent of Afghanistan’s $6.8 billion national budget. “What the Afghan government allocates for the ministry of women’s affairs and women’s issues across all of the Afghan ministries is not enough. We still need countries who are contributing to Afghanistan’s national budget to allocate at least 25 percent of their contribution strictly for women’s issues,” says Barakzai. Two years ago when the talks about a 2014 withdrawal from Afghanistan were picking up in Kabul, some Afghan women leaders and activists believed that the protection of women’s rights would be a top priority and a nonnegotiable part of the transition. But some leaders of women’s nonprofits in Afghanistan report that since late 2011, funding for critical programs supporting women’s shelters, advocacy campaigns, and education initiatives for women and girls have dried up. Marzia Shukoor, a sophomore at Kabul University, says when she started her studies two years ago she had hopes of opening her own architectural consulting business when she graduated. “Now I don’t know. I have to wait and see what happens with the security and if there will be any restrictions placed on women who work,” says the 20-year-old.

TTP Commander Waliur Rehman and Imran Khan’s march of folly

by Mahpara Qalander

Let Us Build Pakistan

Who was Waliur Rehman? The easy answer is that he was the deputy in command of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) who was killed by a drone attack on 29 of May. But was he just the number 2 of the TTP? Was he just a terrorist who killed or ordered killing of people? Obviously no. If you listen to Imran Khan, there is something you will be surprised. According to Imran Khan’s traditional pro-Taliban belief and profession, Waliur Rehman was a pro-peace Taliban leader who wanted to hold peace talks with the government of Pakistan. This is what he said in his tweet. Even Waliur Rehman must be slapping his knees in disbelief at Imran Khan’s statement. What Imran Khan conveniently forgot to mention (as usual) that Waliur Rehman was responsible for the killing of thousands of Pakistanis including Pakistani soldiers. He lied all his life in accordance with his Deobandi-Takfiri belief. He considered Shias, Ahmedis, and Brelvis kaffir and deserving death. He had the same view about Christians and Hindus. How can he be a man of peace? Waliur Rehman was the man who was declared one of the most wanted terrorists by the government of Pakistan. Imran Khan’s march of folly is as consistent as it is unbelievable. He has been saying that the violence in Pakistan is the result of the American interference in Afghanistan. But what about the Deobandi-Takfiri fatwas which stipulate the killing of all human beings who are not Deobandi or Wahabi? How can Imran Khan possibly help the people of Pakistan who have suffered at the hands of the Taliban for over two decades? Unless you call a criminal and criminal, how can you deal with crimes? Recently, Imran Khan put his weight behind Mullah Aurengzeb Farooqi when he decided to support him in the provincial elections in Karachi. Farooqi has openly asked for the destruction of the Shias. What is Imran Khan’s stand on it? http://criticalppp.com/archives/267521 Someone in the PTI should stop Imran Khan’s march of folly. Otherwise, he will bring his own party down, which will be a great tragedy for Pakistan.

PTI, stand up and deliver: ''CM Pervez Khattak not paid taxes in years 2011 and 2012''

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader and newly elected Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pervez Khattak got a wake-up call when the Federal Board Of Revenue records depicted him a man who had not paid taxes in years 2011 and 2012 despite having sizeable income. He may well have taken the benefit from the tax exemption the previous government has given to the victims of the flood-hit area of the KPK. The incumbent Chief Minister, who hails from a respectable family, does not qualifies for such exemption as he hardly lost any thing in the natural calamity rather his income recorded a steep rise during the prescribed period. Thus skipping the tax is not justified, and it has left a bad taste in the mouth on the onset of the regime that many hoped will purge the corruption-plagued province, ensuring strict implementation of merit in all walks of life. His party, in the election run-up, had promised to focus on the stability of the provincial institutions, eradicating irregularities and nepotism in the province. With the iron will that the PTI had, nothing should deter its government from implementing its agenda. Of course, the protection of the people’s lives is on its top priority, the new KPK government has declared to minimize police check-posts along the main roads. The step may well reduce the grievances of the general public but it can also leave the field open for terrorists moving around escort free. The Police department warrants a total revamping to raise the security of the people, failing which the reduction in check posts can prove counter-productive. Infrastructure in the department of the health and education is in an extremely bad shape; provision of healthcare at the government hospitals and education in the government schools is absolutely non-existent. To ensure a change that the PTI trumpeted the most, its government should introduce a merit-based policy and appoint capable, efficient, dedicated and honest persons at the top official posts, doing away with those who are firmly seated in the offices over the years because of their influential background, and the concept of serving the general masses is alien to them. The Khattak government has decided to set up complaint cells. In the last regime, the PML-N too did the same that hardly paid any dividends to the masses rather it proved a publicity stunt. Thus the PTI too needs to be a little careful. The key to success lies in practicable measures having an automated check and balance mechanism in the system, the cosmetic surgery is not going to do any wonder, the people of the province have already enough of it. The economy of the province is in a shambles; unemployment has attained an agonizing proportion. For economic turn-around, the PTI government should hold a thorough probe into debacle of Gadoon Amazai Industrial Estate to kick start the process of industrialization in the province afresh. Last but not the least it is welcome sign that the veteran journalist Shuakat Yousafzai is going to hold the provincial information ministry, hopefully his elevation will help grow a close liaison between the Government and the independent Press wherein the two will work together in the greater interest of the people who have set a perfect platform for the PTI to stand up and deliver.

A menace called Twitter

There are many differences between the Turkish Spring and the Arab Spring. This is an uprising, but it is an uprising not to take control of the state. It is a revolution to give the public its dignity and gain back power over politicians. Also, it is purely the Turkish public’s uprising. In the Arab Spring, the social media messages were mostly coming from the outside world; currently, 90 percent of all information spread over the Internet in regard to the protest is from within Turkey. The malfunctioning democracy and media caused people to create their own media and information outlets without getting any help from the outside world. There were 1,599,977 #direngeziparki tweets up until June 3. Some 523,126 of those were on June 2 when the heaviest clashes occurred. Some 386,275 of those were photographs, 10,592 were videos. Only one-tenth were in foreign languages. There were just 318 tweets in Russian, for example. That’s why people in absolute power have begun targeting social media, mainly Facebook and Twitter. It is interesting to see this kind of a reaction from those people who have been visiting Silicon Valley very frequently. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was there a couple of weeks ago, saying he wanted to see what was happening on the frontlines of the information age. But I think his tour organizers didn’t inform him well enough. At least his advisers could have told him that there are so many ways to get organized via the Internet that cutting Twitter wouldn’t even slow the movement. The headline is a quotation from Erdoğan. “Social media is the worst menace to society,” he said after the public took control of Istanbul’s main square. Then Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç said they had the power to cut all social media but added that they were watching for now as they are very democratic. I am sure that many of you haven’t seen such a solid example of an oxymoron for a long time. A true-hearted democrat wouldn’t even dream of cutting all the social media outlets even in their wildest dreams, let alone implying it to the public. He then said people had begun to be arrested in İzmir for inciting a revolt with their Twitter posts. There are 24 people in custody as I write this column. They were taken in the evening and held in the police station overnight as there are too many suspects to be processed, meaning their turn wouldn’t come until the morning. Yes, I didn’t see what they wrote on Twitter, so maybe they should be judged, but then it should be fair. I have seen thousands of social media messages from Justice and Development Party (AKP) followers urging the police to hit harder. Ankara Mayor Melih Gökçek wrote that they could drown all of us with their spit and that if people were old enough to protest, they were old enough to be punished. There is no news about him being called in for questioning. Up until now, not a single technology NGO has issued a statement about all this. When this peaceful transition to a new kind of government is completed, I promise to be a menace to all the people who exerted pressure on everyone and those who kept silent about it. After all, what we do in life echoes in eternity.

Pakistan: US drone strike kills 7

Associated Press

A suspected U.S. drone strike killed seven militants in Pakistan near the Afghan border on Friday, Pakistani intelligence officials said. The missiles struck a compound in Mangrothi village in the Shawal area, along the border dividing the North and South Waziristan tribal regions, the two officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information. Many Pakistanis oppose U.S. drone strikes because they say the strikes kill large numbers of innocent civilians — something the U.S. denies — and end up breeding more extremism by those seeking retribution. The country's new prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, who was sworn in on Wednesday, has lashed out against the U.S. drone program. During his campaign, he sometimes criticized the U.S. and its policy of using drones to kill militants in the tribal areas of Pakistan. Speaking to parliament earlier this week, he once again called for an end to the drone policy. "This daily routine of drone attacks, this chapter shall now be closed," Sharif said to widespread applause. "We do respect others' sovereignty. It is mandatory on others that they respect our sovereignty." Sharif gave few details on how he might end the strikes, however. The U.S. considers the drone program vital to battling al-Qaida and other insurgents who use the tribal areas of Pakistan as a safe haven.

Xi, Obama meet for 1st summit

CHINESE President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart, Barack Obama, met today in picturesque estate in Rancho Mirage, California, to exchange views on major issues of common concern. Obama received Xi upon his arrival, and the two heads of state greeted each other. Following the meeting, Xi and Obama are expected to have a working dinner to continue talks on relevant issues. They will meet again on Saturday morning. The summit is the first face-to-face meeting between the presidents of China and the United States since the two countries completed their latest leadership transitions.

TURKEY: Flouting Erdogan, thousands of Turks prepare for weekend protests

Haaretz.com

Thousands of Turks dug in on Saturday for a weekend of anti-government demonstrations despite Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's demand for an immediate end to the worst political unrest of his decade in power. In central Istanbul's Taksim Square, where riot police backed by helicopters and armored vehicles clashed with protesters a week ago, activists spent the night in a makeshift protest camp, sleeping in tents and vandalized buses, or wrapped in blankets under plane trees. What began as a campaign against the redevelopment of Gezi Park in a corner of Taksim Square spiraled into an unprecedented display of public anger over the perceived authoritarianism of Erdogan and his Islamist-rooted AK Party. Police firing tear gas and water cannon have clashed with groups of protesters night after night in Istanbul, Ankara and other cities across the country for much of the past week, leaving three dead and some 4,000 injured.Erdogan demanded on Friday an immediate end to the protests, saying they had been founded on a "campaign of lies." He has branded the demonstrators as looters and has said the protests are being manipulated by "terrorist" groups. Erdogan gave no indication of any immediate plans to remove the tent villages that have appeared in Taksim and a park in the capital, Ankara. But the gatherings mark a challenge to a leader whose authority is built on three successive election victories. "Let them attack, they can't stop us," shouted a member of the Turkish Communist Party, shouting through loudspeakers to a cheering crowd from on top of a white van in Taksim Square.

"The AK Party will go. This will be the end."

The protesters have built barricades of paving stones and corrugated iron on access roads to Taksim to try to protect themselves against a potential police assault. But their actions have brought gridlock to part of central Istanbul and it is unclear how long the authorities will tolerate their presence. The square is lined by luxury hotels that should be doing a roaring trade as the summer season starts in one of the world's most-visited cities. But a forced eviction could trigger a repeat of the clashes seen earlier in the week. Anger boils over Erdogan takes the protests as a personal affront. He has enacted many democratic reforms, taming a military that toppled four governments in four decades, starting entry talks with the European Union, reining in rights abuses by police and forging peace talks with Kurdish rebels to end a three-decade-old war that has cost 40,000 lives. Per-capita income has tripled in nominal terms and business has boomed under his rule. But in recent years, critics say his style, always forceful and emotional, has become authoritarian. Media have come under pressure, and the arrests of military and other figures over alleged coup plots as well as moves such as restrictions on alcohol sales have unsettled especially secular middle-class Turks who are sensitive to any encroachment of religion on their daily lives. The fierce crackdown, condemned by foreign powers, on what started as peaceful protests in Gezi Park were the final straw, has caused simmering frustrations with Erdogan's leadership to boil over. "These protests are partly a result of his success in economic and social transformation. There's a new generation who doesn't want to be bullied by the prime minister and who is afraid their lifestyle is in danger," said Joost Lagendijk, a former European parliamentarian and Istanbul-based academic. Sources close to the AK Party that Erdogan founded in 2001, and which only a year later crushed traditional secular parties in elections, suggest a sense of siege within the leadership, with influential if disparate forces keen to remove Erdogan. Citing a party source, the Radikal newspaper said an AK Party executive meeting on Saturday may discuss the possibility of calling early elections, although it could also change party rules to enable Erdogan to seek a fourth term as prime minister rather than running for the presidency. Erdogan has made clear he has no intention of stepping aside – pointing to the AK Party's 50 percent of the vote in the last election – and he has no clear rivals inside the party or outside, with the opposition fragmented on the streets and in parliament.

U.S.CHINA: Forging the new 'big power' relationship

US President Obama and Chinese President Xi are to meet in California to talk about the future of US-China relations. But the two-day summit may be clouded by growing concerns about cyberattacks, human rights and piracy. There will be none of the pomp associated with US-Chinese summits when US President Barack Obama meets his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the Sunnylands Estate in Southern California this week. In an unprecedented move, both parties agreed to ditch the ties and break from diplomatic protocol. In the private retreat the leaders of the top two economic and trading nations will be holding a shirt-sleeves summit. The global balance of power has been shifting over the past few years. While the US ranks amongst the world's most indebted countries, China has become one of its biggest lenders. By the next decade China is expected to overtake the US as the largest economy on earth. At the Sunnylands residence Obama will be meeting with an assertive Chinese leader seeking a bigger place at the global table. The real essence of the talks scheduled for this Friday and Saturday (June 7-8, 2013) was summed up a year ago by former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: "The United States and China are trying to do something that is historically unprecedented, to write a new answer to the age-old question of what happens when an established power and a rising power meet." 'Strategic distrust' Historically speaking, the answer to this question has been in most cases conflict and war. In the current case, ties between the Washington and Beijing have been characterized by mutual suspicion, especially regarding each other's long-term objectives. This has prompted political scientists to describe the relationship as one of "strategic distrust." On the one hand, Beijing has been insinuating that the US government is intent on stemming or even sabotaging China's rise, thus ensuring its own political and economic hegemony. President Obama's "rebalancing" of US foreign policy towards Asia - including a shift of diplomatic and military resources - has given the Chinese even more reason to become suspicious. On the other hand, the Washington is increasingly wary of the possibility of China dominating Asia - at the expense of American influence and interests. Strategists believe US-China ties will take on the form of a zero-sum game rather than a win-win situation. Elizabeth Economy, director for Asia Studies at the US-based Council on Foreign Relations is cautiously optimistic that the two nations will be able to overcome their mutual distrust.Economy told DW that in order to re-establish trust the two parties must find a common ground. The China expert added, however, that this might be a long-term process requiring common values and policy approaches. But Economy also emphasized that the US is not the only country having trust issues with the Chinese. She said other nations are also having disputes with Beijing over intellectual property theft, cyber intrusions and territorial limits. Growing political influence For many years the Chinese chose not to play a major part in international affairs. The dictum followed by the late reformist leader Deng Xiaoping stated that China should "hide its light under a bushel and wait for the appropriate moment." After decades of economic growth it is likely that China's newly appointed leadership considers now to be the right time. The German political scientist Eberhard Sandschneider considers it to be natural for states to translate their strong economic performance into political influence and military might. Spending some 'quality time' He told DW that states with powerful economies gradually become active in the international arena and start developing global interests. "We will have to get used to the idea that China will play an increasingly active role in world affairs," he said. The expert believes that it is prudent for the US and China to get to know each other's objectives better in order to avoid misunderstandings or even conflict. The meeting in California is therefore a "great opportunity" for Obama and Xi to spend some "quality time" together and build mutual trust, Sandschneider added. However, these will not be the first face-to-face talks held between the two leaders. Xi travelled to the US in 2012 as vice president and leader-in-waiting.

Turkish PM’s remarks create rows with EU, US

The U.S. Embassy in Turkey refuted Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s remarks on “Occupy Wall Street” death toll on June 7, as a top EU commissioner also voiced dissatisfaction on Ankara’s response to the Gezi Park protests. The embassy released a statement on its official Twitter account that “Reports related to the U.S. Occupy Wall Street movement are inaccurate. No U.S. deaths resulted from police actions in #OWS.” The tweet came only an hour after Erdoğan said 17 activists were killed in the 2011 protests during a speech where he hit at criticism toward the use of police force during their interventions in the Gezi Park protests. “Those who try to lecture us, what did they do about the Wall Street incidents? Tear gas, the death of 17 people happened there. What was the reaction?” Erdoğan said, referring to the criticism of the use of police force against the protesters. The initial sit-in protests against Erdoğan’s plan to build Artillery Barracks and a shopping mall on the Gezi Park has sparked anti-government rallies. Erdoğan was defiant in his speech on June 7, eliciting dissatisfaction from EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Füle. “Disappointed by the lost opportunity at the #Istanbul conference to reach out to those calling for respect & inclusive dialogue,” Füle wrote on his Twitter account. Earlier in the day, Füle urged Turkey to investigate whether police used excessive force in a crackdown on days of anti-government demonstrations and hold those responsible to account. “Peaceful demonstrations constitute a legitimate way for ... groups to express their views in a democratic society.”

Why did PPP lose elections 2013?

''Let Us Build Pakistan'' LUBP is currently conducting a series of interviews with Pakistan Peoples Party’s long-time supporters (Jiyalas) and independent political analysts to have their views on the party’s electoral debacle in 2013. The aim of this series is to provide constructive criticism and sincere reflections to the party’s leadership in order to improve the party’s performance as well as perceptions in the future.

Interview with Humza Ikram

Brief introduction: Humza Ikram is a UAE based professional with academic qualifications from Lahore and London. Born into a Jiyala family in Lahore, Humza has served as an editor of the LUBP blog and is a founding member of the PPP Scholars Wing. He has actively supported the PPP through political circles in Lahore and UAE.

LUBP: What is your association with the PPP? Brief history or/and views please?

Humza Ikram: I am a PPP child, i.e., I was born into a pro-PPP family in Lahore.

LUBP: How do you compare PPP with other leading political parties of Pakistan?

Humza Ikram: PPP is very different from the rest of the political parties. PPP has always stood for oppressed and marginalized groups, labour unions, bar councils, fighting back against onslaught of pro-establishment benches and boots. Recently when landless and tenant Punjabi farmers were fighting for their rights, PPP was only party which fought for them.

LUBP: The Shias, Christians and Hindus amongst other numerical minority groups were considered most loyal PPP voting bank. It’s now established that PPP has lost trust and support of these communities due to its apathy, inaction and insensitivity on Shia genocide, and persecution/murder of Christians, Hindus, Ahmadis etc by Jihadist-sectarian groups. To what extent are party’s media and policy advisors responsible for this callous mismanagement?

Humza Ikram: PPP knew Shia community was hurt because of its failure to end systematic target-killing of Shias across Pakistan. The party failed to understand the gravity of their plight. Instead of reaching out to the community which is living in constant fear, the party considered it sufficient to have Shia clergy’s support during elections. Result shows it didn’t work and will not work in future too. Majority of Shia Muslims happen to be liberal, secular leaning and Shia clergy has little influence over their voting preferences.

Similarly, in case of ­Hindus and Christian communities, instead of empowering the lower middle class by giving election ticket to its own Christian workers the party gave election ticket to an exclusive list prepared by APMA (All Pakistan Minority Alliance). In contrast, PML-N empowered the Christian lower middle class and also made Kamran Micheal first Christian senator, who comes from a modest background. Similarly, in case of Sindhi Hindus, the party did not empower the Dalit Hindu workers.

LUBP: Both its supporters and critics are unanimous that the PPP leadership has become disconnected from the masses. Kindly elaborate on this and identify the specific reasons for this distancing.

Humza Ikram: I don’t agree in entirety. Pakistan today is facing multiple fault lines. Unlike other parties, PPP never got the time to reach out to the people and had to face most of these problems alone. Even its coalition partners didn’t have so much responsibilities on their shoulder. The party had to face a hostile apex court which was not only after its leadership but was also striking down unanimous constitutional amendments passed by the parliament. The PPP was left alone by all political parties in crucial times, for instance, the memogate and Kerry Lugar Bill to fight it out with the army. Ironically, all provincial governments including the Islamist Punjab government of PML-N were beneficiaries of the Kerry Lugar Bill and received funds from the USAID afterwards. Later on, when time came for election campaign, TTP (Taliban and their sectarian affiliates) made sure the PPP was deprived of a level playground to campaign for elections. Thus it was made sure that the party remains disconnected from the masses. Apart from these constraints, another reason is that the PPP is still a party of 1980s. When you see people who were made Senator on PPP ticket and check their background, it is hard to imagine they have really made it to Upper House of the Parliament. Almas Parveen from Lyari Karachi to Surayya Amiruddin from Quetta. Faisal Abidi , Saeed Ghani , Farhatullah Babar, Nayyar Bukhari , Farhat Abbas all of these people come from modest middleclass background. Unfortunately Aslam Gill from Lahore didn’t make it to Upper House due to worst manipulation. But somehow all these people dont’ fits in the ‘Naya Pakistan’ and sending them to parliament somehow did not give an impression that party has empowered common man. The party should now realize and accept that not targeting millions of new voters was a big mistake. It’s not just an electoral loss the party is currently facing an existential crisis in Punjab and entire Pakistan.

LUBP:

One of the major causes of PPP’s recent electoral debacle was its perceived inability to manage the energy crisis. Why was the PPP unable to communicate its tangible achievements in this regard?

Humza Ikram:

In my personal view, energy crises is not the sole reason of the electoral debacle. In my personal view, recent outcome is much more than an electoral loss. The party may face extinction. In 1990s, the party lost ground to the rise of Muslim League and Nawaz Sharif in particular but even then we used to get 35- 50,000K votes in many of central Punjab constituencies, and today we got less than 2,000 votes in most of Lahore constituencies. In effect the party has been relegated to number three or even lower position by PML-N and PTI in the Punjab and many other areas.

LUBP :

To what extent has the policy PPP policy of appeasement damaged the party? Humza Ikram: The policy of appeasement has damaged the party severely and created a lot of confusion in its own ranks. The Party tried to appease almost everyone out there, from mullah to military – and it didn’t stop there they had to bow down to MQM pressure and accept a draft of local bodies for which they had to face of a lot of criticism and rightly so from not only Sindhi nationalist but also Sindhi intelligentsia, writers and civil society . Moreover, indecisiveness has inflicted more damage. For example, it took central leadership more than four years to remove Aslam Raisini, CM Baluchistan. Now one can see good number of ministers of Raisani cabinet (Asim Kurd , Sanaullah Zehri etc) who won their respective seats and probably will be a part of the cabinet of N-league led coalition government of Baluchistan. But we (PPP) do not have a single member in Baluchistan assembly to represent the party.

Pakistan: Targeted attacks: Militants destroy school, torch house in Mattani

The Express Tribune

Militants blew up a government high school for boys in Mattani on Wednesday. Locals said dozens of heavily armed militants came to the area and held the watchman hostage while planting four bombs around the school building. The explosions occurred successively, destroying all 17 rooms of the school. Police said around 60 kilogrammes of explosives were used in the attack. The school is located on the border of Frontier Region Peshawar and Mattani. House destroyed Unidentified militants torched two houses in Jaba. Police said militants attacked Nawaz and his nephew Farman’s house with RPG-7 rockets after surrounding the area. Following a confrontation for about an hour, the house owners realised they were outnumbered and fled, following which the militants set it on fire. In the arson, another house was also damaged. The police said they had heard rumours about militants taking several residents hostage, but discovered the next morning that all those living there had escaped and were safe. This is the second such attack by militants on homes of rivals in the past one month. Previously, four houses in Sheikh Nala were targeted, in which a woman was killed and three others injured.

Turkey: Gezi Park is now a utopic ‘Freetown’

Istanbul’s city center is now a timeless place after the police withdrawal. Closed by barricades, Gezi Park and Taksim now belong solely to people and ideologies previously deemed closed to the mainstream

At the entrance of Copenhagen’s famous Freetown Christiania, visitors are greeted with a hand-painted sign reading “You are now leaving the EU.” Right now, something similar can be said for the Gezi Park – it’s no longer Istanbul as you know it. Since the police withdrawal from the city center on June 1 as a result of clashes with protesters, the Taksim district has been occupied as could never have been predicted. Closed with barricades, the central district now solely belongs to the people, and to ideologies that were previously deemed completely closed to the mainstream. Bright lights and loud music coming from İstiklal Avenue are not there. Shops are closed, and graffiti fills their windows. On Taksim Square, it feels like the post-apocalypse has met the day after revolution. A wrecked NTV van and a crashed police car have been left like remnants of the Berlin Wall, open for photographing. The iconic Atatürk Cultural Center (AKM) has been covered with flags: Legendary 1970’s revolutionary Deniz Gezmiş looks down on the area, while next to him are posters of left-wing groups and a “shut up” call to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Just a week ago, even the thought of such a scene was impossible. Now, with the occupation, it has become the reality. Forty-nine percent Make no mistake, even though it has a passing resemblance to the “Occupy” movement, this is not a “We are the 99 percent” action. It is more like, “We are the 49 percent.” It is the mobilization of thousands who do not find themselves represented in the Parliament. The protests were more about people, mostly youths, making themselves heard by a government that enjoys too much comfort from its majority and forgets to hear the concerns of the minority. As a crowd that was complaining of discrimination, the Gezi people are embracing their differences beautifully. On June 1, slogans were silenced when a prayer call was heard. “From now on, respect for every belief will prevail,” one said. That approach was again used yesterday, when they asked people not to drink alcohol out of respect to the sacred night of Lailat al–Mi’raj. Inside the Gezi Park, the utopian feeling is multiplied. There are open buffets for people feeding themselves, yoga sessions in the morning and now, a library. Every morning, after the police withdrawal, protesters got the area squeaky clean. People have fun in their own way and nobody intervenes: Kurds dance their halays, Laz people do their horon dance, and a group with Mustafa Kemal Atatürk flags chant their slogans - All this happens within a few meters’ distance. There are lots of differences, but no conflict. There are no police, but it’s safe. No hierarchy, but a humane order. For a country where the democratic tradition is about rights being given from the top to bottom, it is about reversing the order. It is about sharing, kindness, and reasoning. So romantic, for sure; but it is there. We know that it won’t be forever. Enjoy it while it lasts.

Turkish protesters want "neither Islamisation, nor unbridled capitalism"

Despite the Turkish deputy prime minister apologising for police’s “excessive violence”, protesters once again went out into the streets by the thousands in cities around Turkey Tuesday night. Our Observers participating in the protests explain their many grievances against prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and why they are determined to keep up the struggle. At least 25 people were arrested early on Wednesday morning in the western city of Izmir for allegedly spreading “false and defamatory” information on Twitter. Meanwhile, in the capital Ankara and in Istanbul, police used water cannons to push back protesters trying to reach government offices. Clashes between police and protesters at Taksim Square in Istanbul on Tuesday. Photo by Doğu Eroğlu On top of these protests, Turkey is now experiencing strikes led by one of the country’s main unions, the KESK. On Tuesday, it called on its more than 200,000 members to stop working for 48 hours. Bulent Arinc, who serves both as deputy prime minister and government spokesperson, offered an apology on Tuesday to “all those who became victims of violence because they wanted to defend the environment,” adding that the very first protests, held early last week in Istanbul to block the razing of a public park, were “just and legitimate.” Since 2002, Turkey's government has been led by the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, a moderate Islamist party with conservative views. The AKP has won the last three parliamentary elections. The main opposition party is the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, which is not religiously affiliated. Its president, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, has publicly expressed his support for the protesters.

"If the AKP stays in power, Islam will regulate all parts of society"

Omer Koseoglu is 45. He is the manager of a nightclub in the capital, Ankara.

This is the first time in my life that I’ve participated in a protest. I joined this movement because the vast majority of its supporters behave in a peaceful way and because I agree with their goals, notably their opposition to the government eroding the boundary between religion and state. This separation is a founding principle of our republic; it’s in our constitution, and I refuse to see it besmirched. The AKP has made religion a bigger part of our children’s education. Last year, the educational system was revamped: we now have a “4+4+4” system, meaning that students spend four years in primary school, four years in middle school, and four years in high school. When they leave primary school, at just 10 years of age, they can decide to go to a “professional” school. These include Imam Hatip schools, which are religious. Before, kids could only enrol there after they turned 15. These reforms are put in place without any debate. Since the AKP enjoys a strong majority, the government can do whatever it wants. If this party stays in power, Islam will soon regulate all parts of society. "I’m also protesting against the Turkish media’s silence"

Doga Erdem (not her real name) is 25. She works as a journalist in Istanbul. I joined the protests early on – I was in Gezi Park on the second day. My goal was initially to stop the trees from being cut down so that the park could be replaced by a shopping mall. But then I, like many other young people, witnessed the police’s violent reaction and saw this as a sign that the government is becoming more and more authoritarian. So our demands became about more than the park – we started demanding more democracy. The AKP has such a strong majority in parliament that there are no more debates: they propose laws, and these are adopted almost instantaneously. Is that democracy? I’m also protesting against the Turkish media’s silence. There are practically no media outlets that are really covering the protests: this shows that there is a serious issue with freedom of expression in Turkey. I’m convinced that this movement is going to keep going. The vast majority of protesters are young people who aren’t members of any political parties, and who come from very different backgrounds. We’re not fighting for this or that political cause; we just want to assert our right to live in a democracy. The fact that this movement is spontaneous and diverse should worry the government.

"The government is selling off Turkish companies for next to nothing"

Mert Meric, 27, lives in Izmir. He holds a degree in fine arts and is currently looking for work.

For me, these protests are an opportunity to denounce the government’s economic policies. It is selling off Turkish companies for next to nothing. For example, it let a Czech company buy out Sedas, a subsidiary of Tedas, Turkey’s national energy company. If the government continues like this, energy prices – which are very low in Turkey – are going to go up. Meanwhile, a new law now allows foreign companies to start exploring underwater resources in the Mediterranean Sea. This puts an end to the preferential treatment that Turkey’s oil company TPAO had enjoyed. I fear that in this respect, too, the population could bear the consequences. If we have resources in the first place, why sell them off to foreign companies that we will then have to buy them back from?

Pakistani woman climber hopes to inspire with Everest feat

The first Pakistani woman to climb Mount Everest says she wants her achievement to stand as an inspiration to all the women of her troubled country that they can achieve their dreams. Samina Baig last month became the first woman from Pakistan to reach the 8,848 metre (29,029 foot) summit of the world's tallest mountain, after a gruelling expedition in rough weather. As she unfurled the green and white Pakistani flag on the peak, tears of joy and pride rolled down her cheeks, she said. The 22-year-old said that as she stood with the world at her feet, her mind turned to the millions of women back home denied opportunities because of their gender in Pakistan's conservative, patriarchal society. “I was thinking about the women of Pakistan, those who are not allowed to get education, those who are not allowed to do whatever they want to do in their life,” she said. “I hope that the families will understand that the contribution of women is important and can be more powerful for building a greater country.” Human rights groups say Pakistani women suffer severe discrimination, domestic violence and so-called “honour” killings – when a victim is murdered for allegedly bringing dishonour upon her family. Baig, from the small town of Shimshal in the Hunza valley in Pakistan's mountainous north said she hoped to empower the women of Pakistan through her achievements. “Mountain climbing is my passion and to empower women through my expeditions is the reason. I am doing the mountain climbing to empower women,” she said. “The reason behind this expedition was to convey a message that if Samina can climb a mountain other girls can do anything they want in their life.” The Everest climb was not Baig's first significant achievement – after taking up climbing just three years ago she became the first person to reach the summit of the 6,400-metre Chashkin Sar peak in northern Pakistan in 2010. “Chashkin Sar was virgin and we climbed it for the first time and afterwards the people renamed it as Samina Baig,” she said. Training for the Everest expedition, which she accomplished with her brother Mirza Ali with financial help from New Zealand, began 12 months ago in the frozen wastes of her home district. “It took us one year. Me and my brother were planning for the last one year. We went for training in winter on glaciers. We went to Shimshal Pass in the winter to prepare, stamina building and technical training,” she said. Northern Pakistan is home to some of the world's most impressive mountains and glaciers and challenging climbs, and Baig urged the government to relax the rigid visa regime which she said was holding it back as a destination for mountaineers. “The problem is the visa issue. People want to come to Pakistan but are not given visas. We wish for visas to be given to those people who want to come to Pakistan,” she said. With Everest in the bag, Baig's next target is to summit the highest peaks in each of the world's seven continents – all while studying for a degree in tourism management.

Erdogan(erdoGONE) returns to Turkey amid riots

Turkey: What would Ataturk think?

Published: NATIONAL SECULAR SOCIETY

by Octavia Nasr

The father of all Turks and founder of the modern secular Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, must be turning in his grave from the turn of events throughout Turkey and the political implications they usher in. It all started when a few thousands of Ataturk's unarmed and peaceful sons and daughters took to Istanbul's Taksim Square to protest their government's greed and disregard for the environment as reflected in a lucrative plan to turn Gezi Park (one of Istanbul's last green spaces) into a shopping mall and commercial centre. That the ambitious project is contracted by Prime Minister's Recep Tayyeb Erdogan's AK Party might be the only reason why the Turkish Police responded in a shocking and unwarranted heavy-handedness against the peaceful tree-huggers. That, coupled with a local media blackout on the peaceful protest and the ensuing violent police response, drove the situation to an all-out protest across the country with people demanding the resignation of Erdogan and his government and even calling him a "dictator." The Prime Minister and his party have been acting as the masters of Turkey and its only rulers for quite some time. Riding their unquestioned popularity at the polls and pulling the numbers game any time they feel squeezed or pressured. Erdogan's famous quote about protests which he alluded to again over the weekend as he spoke about the latest protests, "you bring one hundred thousand, we bring one million!" This sounds very familiar to those at the receiving end of other Islamists that came to power thanks to the democratic process. Think Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Ennahda in Tunisia, and Hamas in Gaza. What Mr Erdogan did not count on is that a small environmental protest, which he believed he could totally ignore and intimidate the media into ignoring as well, would end up being the one to expose his dictatorship-style democracy where his own opinions and beliefs are above reproach and where opposition is reduced to nothing and never given the chance to play its natural role. Mr. Erdogan never thought that a simple protest over a green patch would expose his party's inability and unwillingness to listen or negotiate. He never thought the word will get out of Istanbul, let alone to some twenty six cities in Turkey and through social media to the entire world. A simple march on Taksim Square, which on a regular day would have been insignificant and ineffective, brought out the worst of Turkish Police and brought in the world's attention. When the protests widened and got violent naturally, Mr Erdogan spoke not once but three times on Sunday, trying to appear in control and dismissive of the reach of the loud critical voices. He called Twitter a "bunch of lies-carrying vehicle" and to people calling him a "dictator," he had "nothing to say." In essence doing the same thing his government and his party have done every time they were met with criticism: Playing down the charges, dismissing and discrediting the critics, blaming dissent on the opposition, and moving on with their plans as usual. Many things should concern anyone looking at Erdogan, his AKP and the future of Turkey as a key player in the Middle East, Europe and on the international scene. Let's mention only some obvious red lights although there are many others: The very charismatic Mr Erdogan, with a large Islamist voter base, has been rallying to alter the constitution to allow him to become Turkey's first newly empowered president. His plans did not go through at the end of 2012 and earlier this year he seemed to put them on hold for a while. For someone who campaigned hard in 2007 to lift a ban on women wearing headscarves at state universities and made it a priority of his premiership until the ban was lifted, it is very obvious that his Islamist agenda is wrapped nicely into a moderate conservative one. Then the ban on alcohol sale earlier this year, which was introduced, written and approved in two short weeks despite a ferocious opposition and his comment, "those who want to drink can drink at home." On the same subject, Erdogan has said that the original alcohol law which he overturned was "written by a couple of alcoholics!" One has to wonder if he was referring to Ataturk as an "alcoholic." If so, wouldn't this be considered an "insult" to the father of modern secular Turkey? Because if he meant Ataturk, that would be an offense punishable by law! With an unapologetic statement like this, which went unnoticed, Erdogan's one party rule is well on its way to rolling back Turkey's secularism right under everybody's nose. For anyone in the free world who applauds Erdogan's Turkey and uses it as a "model" for Arab Spring countries and the Islamic rule within a democracy, let the latest events serve as lessons on how important it is to keep religion and state separate in secular societies and always beware of Islamist agendas disguised as democracies. I really don't know what Ataturk would think of all this, but if he is rolling in his grave, it is certainly not the first time and, from the way things are going in Turkey, it certainly won't be the last.

Turkey's reaction to protests follows Islamist playbook

http://www.usatoday.com/

The Turkish prime minister's dismissal of anti-government protests as the work of opposition thugs fits a pattern of how many Islamist political leaders are responding to legitimate criticism of their regimes. Islamist leaders in Egypt, Tunisia and Turkey have shown an arrogance toward opposition views, breeding frustration that exacerbates civil unrest and instability and is likely to spread as democratic reforms continue to sweep the region, analysts say. "The similarity is quite striking, (but) not that surprising," because Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other Islamist leaders "have a similar view of democracy," says Shadi Hamid, director of research at the Brookings Doha Center. They believe winning elections gives them a mandate and considerable latitude to pursue their vision, even in the face of significant opposition, Hamid says. "There's less of an idea of consensus building or taking into account the positions of the electoral minorities." The democratic changes that followed the Arab Spring revolts have led to the political rise of Islamist groups sidelined or repressed by Middle East political structures for decades. In Turkey, Erdogan's Islamist government has gained power in part by eroding the once powerful influence the nation's military had on politics. While the Islamists have taken advantage of democratic elections, they appear not to have embraced another feature of Western democracy: protecting minorities from the majority.Protests that erupted last week in Turkey started out as a peaceful demonstration against a government plan to build a mosque and shopping center in an historic Istanbul square surrounded by outdoor restaurants and bars. When police tried to break it up with force, however, the protest evolved into a mass movement against what many Turks describe as an increasingly authoritarian government that's pushing a religious agenda and ignores minority views. Demonstrators who took up the cause in dozens of Turkish cities protested a recently passed law banning retail alcohol sales between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. and the issuing of new licenses for bars within 100 yards of a mosque or school. What happened next was similar to how Islamist governments responded to secular opposition in Egypt and Tunisia. • Erdogan on Monday refused to back away from the development plan and said "I am not going to seek the permission of (the opposition) or a handful of looters." In a speech over the weekend, he warned demonstrators that if they bring 200,000 to the streets, his supporters would bring 1 million. • Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi declared unchecked executive authority and used his powers to push through a constitution drafted by an Islamist-dominated committee. When tens of thousands of people protested outside his presidential palace, he described them as illegitimate thugs, and declared that "God's will and elections made me the captain of this ship." Thousands of his supporters filled the streets to offset opposition protests. • In Tunisia, civil unrest erupted after secular opposition leader Chokri Belaid was assassinated. When Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali proposed a unity government to quell the unrest, Islamists blocked it, saying it would be wrong to give up any electoral gain. "This is what the West will have to contend with," says Eric Trager, an expert on the Muslim Brotherhood at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Islamist parties tend to view democratic institutions as useful in the short run but lack a commitment to democratic values such as checks and balances that allow political minorities to force compromise on the majority, and "the result of that is instability," Trager says. "People (in the opposition) are no longer willing to tolerate a situation in which even elected government acts repressively," he says. "That's not to say those elected governments will be replaced, but the reaction can be destabilizing and economically harmful." Hamid also thinks the conflict between Islamist governments and those who do not support them fully will continue to spread because the Arab world and Turkey are dealing with the role of religion in public life, after decades of repression, and the two sides are far apart ideologically. Each side thinks that "If your opponents win it will change the fundamental nature of society or the state," Hamid says. Feeling are so strong in Egypt, that some secularists have said they prefer a restoration of the military dictatorship that governed the country for decades, Hamid also thinks the conflict will be seen in more countries, especially Syria, where the Islamist-secularist and sectarian fault lines are the reason many Syrians fear a mostly Sunni rebellion will succeed. Michael Rubin, an analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, says many Turks believe Erdogan has become less committed to democracy and that the Turkish leader "has dispensed with this idea that there should be compromise," Rubin says. Rather than draw a parallel with Tunisia, however, Rubin sees similarities with another popular, elected throwback kind of president: Valdimir Putin of Russia, who has overseen a drastic backslide on democracy in the former Soviet Union. "In the Arab Spring a lot of the protesters were Islamists" bringing down long-standing dictatorships, Rubin says. "In the Turkish spring, people feel the country's no longer democratic. He (Erdogan) seems to combine the worst aspects of Morsi and Putin."

Police strike protesters in Turkish capital Ankara with sudden tear gas attack

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/

The ninth day of the Gezi Park protests saw more police violence in the center of Ankara in the afternoon, despite the government’s repeated instructions to the security forces to exercise restraint. Police again used tear gas and water cannon to quell protesters, most of whom were members of unions who had called for a strike in solidarity with the Gezi Park demonstrations. The Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions (DİSK), the Public Workers Unions Confederation (KESK), the Turkish Doctors’ Union (TTB) and the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects (TMMOB) as well as members of left-wing political parties and members of civil society organizations were all present at the Kızılay square. A greater police presence compared to the last two days was noted near the square. Tensions arose as a group unrelated with the unions tried to set up tents on Kızılay Square, according to claims. Police chased protesters in the main arterial roads of the town such as Sakarya, Ziya Gökalp and Atatürk Avenues. Some detentions have reportedly been made following the sudden crackdown. Police also fired tear gas and used water cannons against another group of demonstrators that gathered at Kuğulu Park. Two journalists working for the Ulusal Channel, Ankara bureau chief Mustafa Kaya and cameraman Serkan Bayraktar, were taken into custody, the private broadcaster reported. Ankara was one of the places which saw the fiercest police repression over the week-end.

Turkey trade unions join anti-government protests

Trade unions in Turkey have joined demonstrators who are calling on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to step down. On Wednesday, labor unions started a protest rally from Istanbul’s Sisli neighborhood towards the city’s iconic Taksim Square. Since Friday, tens of thousands of anti-government demonstrations have been held in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Mugla, Antalya, and many other cities and towns. The unrest in Turkey began after police broke up a sit-in which was held in Taksim Square on May 31 in protest against the planned demolition of Gezi Park. The protesters said Gezi Park, which is a traditional gathering point for rallies and demonstrations as well as a popular tourist destination, is Istanbul's last public green space. Two major trade union confederations went on a two-day strike from Tuesday. The strike, which involves 600,000 union members, is a major public support for the protesters who are standing their ground despite police harsh crackdown. At least four people have been killed and more than a thousand injured since the beginning of anti-government protests in Turkey. Authorities say over 2,000 people have been also detained.

U.S: '' Rice to Replace Donilon as Top Foreign Policy Aide to Obama ''

By MARK LANDLER

In a major shakeup of President Obama’s foreign-policy inner circle, Tom Donilon, the national security adviser, is resigning and will be replaced by Susan E. Rice, the American ambassador to the United Nations, White House officials said on Tuesday. The appointment, which Mr. Obama plans to make on Wednesday afternoon, puts Ms. Rice, 48, an outspoken diplomat and a close political ally, at the heart of the administration’s foreign-policy apparatus. It is also a defiant gesture to Republicans who harshly criticized Ms. Rice for presenting an erroneous account of the deadly attacks on the American mission in Benghazi, Libya. The post of national security adviser, while powerful, does not require Senate confirmation. Mr. Obama also plans to nominate Samantha Power, a National Security Council official, as Ms. Rice’s replacement at the United Nations on Wednesday. Ms. Power, who has written extensively about genocide, is closely allied with Ms. Rice on human rights issues. A central member of Mr. Obama’s foreign-policy team since he first took office, Mr. Donilon, 58, has exerted sweeping influence, mostly behind the scenes, on issues from counterterrorism to the reorientation of America to Asia from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Among his last big projects was negotiating the highly unusual informal meeting between Mr. Obama and President Xi Jinping of China on Friday at an estate in Southern California. Mr. Donilon, just back from talks in Beijing, clearly took pride of ownership. “I don’t know when there was a broad meeting like this,” he said in an interview. “For the last 40 years or so, these conversations have taken place in a more formal, scripted context.” But Mr. Donilon has also hit a rough patch recently, with the publication of an unflattering profile in Foreign Policy magazine that cast him as a sharp-elbowed infighter and a domineering boss, who had strained relationships with colleagues, including his former deputy, Denis R. McDonough, now the White House chief of staff. Mr. Donilon and Mr. McDonough, however, both denied those reports, with Mr. McDonough saying he had a “very good relationship with Tom.” He added, “It pains me to think anybody would think he’s leaving because of me.” Mr. Donilon, whose departure is effective early July, said he had planned to leave after Mr. Obama’s first term but stayed on at the president’s request to break in a new team led by Secretary of State John Kerry, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, and the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, John O. Brennan. He pointed to the unusual harmony among Cabinet heavyweights like former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and former Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, and chalked up reports of unhappy subordinates to the relentless grind of working in the White House. “I cherish my staff,” he said. “They are a national treasure.” Mr. McDonough said Mr. Donilon’s greatest policy legacy would be his role in engineering the pivot to Asia. In a statement, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., said, “I’ve worked with eight different administrations and even more national security advisers, and I’ve never met anyone with more talent and with greater strategic judgment.” The president recently nominated Mr. Donilon’s wife, Cathy Russell, a former chief of staff to Jill Biden, as the State Department’s ambassador at large for global women’s issues – a job that will impose heavy work and travel demands of its own on a family that has seen little of Mr. Donilon since 2009. The Donilons have two children, aged 14 and 16. For Ms. Rice, the appointment amounts to redemption after she withdrew from consideration as secretary of state because Republicans threatened to block her nomination over Benghazi. Mr. Obama steadfastly defended Ms. Rice, and after he nominated John Kerry instead of her, White House officials said she became the front-runner to succeed Mr. Donilon, who has been in the job since October 2010 and had been the principal deputy before that. A Rhodes Scholar who holds a doctorate in international affairs from Oxford University, Ms. Rice began her government career on the National Security Council during the Clinton administration, later serving as senior director for African affairs from 1995 to 1997. A foreign policy adviser to then-Senator Obama during his 2008 campaign, Ms. Rice was viewed as a potential national security adviser in his first term. Mr. Obama instead sent her to the United Nations and chose Gen. James L. Jones, a former Marine Corps commandant. At the United Nations, Ms. Rice earned good reviews for lining up balky members behind sanctions on North Korea and Iran. After Mr. Obama’s re-election, she was seen as a prime candidate to replace Mrs. Clinton. But that was before she appeared on television to discuss the attack in Benghazi, which killed four Americans, including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens. Ms. Rice, using talking points drafted by the C.I.A., said the assault appeared to be a protest gone awry rather than a premeditated terrorist attack. That proved incorrect, and though Ms. Rice cautioned that the account could change with further intelligence, Republicans accused her of sanitizing the truth for political reasons. After withdrawing her name as secretary of state, Ms. Rice returned to the United Nations, where she kept a low profile, immersing herself in issues involving countries like Syria and North Korea. But she has retained the confidence of the White House, playing an influential role in internal debates over questions like whether to arm the rebels in Syria. “When she speaks,” Mr. Biden said last month, “no one wonders whether or not she is speaking for the president.” Unlike Mr. Donilon, Ms. Rice is known for her outspoken views on human rights and other issues. She advocated the NATO-led military intervention in Libya, for example. That raises a question of how she will approach the job of national security adviser, which has traditionally functioned as a broker among competing agencies. Mr. Donilon has said his model was Brent Scowcroft, the influential adviser to President George H.W. Bush. A tireless student of the bureaucratic process, Mr. Donilon favors exhaustive preparation over seat-of-the-pants advice. He prided himself on delivering a daily briefing to Mr. Obama more than 800 times – scheduling overseas trips on weekends to avoid missing that ritual. In the last year, with Republicans accusing him of being responsible for national security leaks – which the White House has denied – Mr. Donilon has steered clear of reporters. Critics have faulted Mr. Donilon, whose background is in Democratic Party politics, for not functioning as a strategic adviser to Mr. Obama. But Mr. Donilon oversaw risky operations like the commando raid that killed Osama bin Laden and took on delicate tasks like managing relations with Pakistan, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Russia and China. With the new focus on Asia, a revived trade agenda and a narrower American approach to fighting terrorists, he said, “We really have changed the strategic posture of the U.S. in the world.”

Protesters are young, libertarian and furious at Turkish PM, says survey

A majority of the Taksim Gezi Park protesters do not feel close to any political party and have said the prime minister’s authoritarian attitude caused the ongoing protests across the country, according to a recent online survey conducted among the protesters. Seventy percent of the protesters said they did not feel close to any political party, while only 15.3 percent said they felt close to a political party, according to a recent online survey conducted by Esra Ercan Bilgiç and Zehra Kafkaslı, two academics from Istanbul Bilgi University between June 3 and 4. Only 7 percent of the respondents said the political party they were a member of influenced them in joining the protests. However, the prime minister’s authoritarian attitude was influential for 92.4 percent of respondents attending the protests, while 91.3 of respondents said the police’s disproportionate use of force was influential. A large majority of respondents, 91.1 percent, said the violation of democratic rights influenced them to attend the protests. The silence of media on the demonstration influenced 84.2 percent of the respondents to attend the protests. More than half of the respondents, 56.2 percent, said the cutting of trees in Taksim Gezi Park was influential in their participation in the demonstrations. What do Turkish protesters want? A majority of the protesters demanded respect of liberties and an end to police violence while rejecting a military coup against the government. The rate of those who demanded “an end to police violence” was 96.7 percent, while 96.1 percent demanded “respect of liberties from now on.” Only 37 percent demanded a new political party be established. A total of 79.5 percent of respondents said they did not want a military coup to intervene in Parliament, while 6.6 percent of respondents demanded a military coup. Who are Taksim Gezi protesters? A majority of the protesters defined themselves as libertarian and did not vote for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), according to the survey. A majority of the protesters who completed the survey, 81.2 percent, defined themselves as “libertarian.” A total of 64.5 percent of the respondents defined themselves as “secular.” Those who did not define themselves as “conservative” totaled 75 percent, while those who did not “vote for the AKP” made 92.1 percent. More than half of the respondents denied being apolitical. Out of 3,000 respondents, 75.8 percent said they had joined the recent protests in Turkey by going out to the streets. Many people made noise from their balconies by hitting pots or turning off and on their lights in the evenings to support the protests across the country, which started in Istanbul’s iconic Taksim Square to stop a shopping mall project that was to replace Gezi Park there. Among the respondents, 63.6 percent were between the ages of 19 and 30. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had previously said the Gezi Park project triggered the protests but later the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and some extremists intervened on the ground to motivate the demonstrations.

Turkey Urban Protesters Blame Erdogan for Narrowing Freedoms

http://www.businessweek.com/

After his landslide re-election in 2007, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged to govern on behalf of all Turks, not just those who voted for him. Underlying the past week’s unrest is a belief among some Turks that he hasn’t kept that promise. Asked why they’re joining the crowds that have gathered in Istanbul and Ankara every day since May 31, many cite what they say is a threat to their freedoms from an Islamist-rooted government increasingly unwilling to countenance dissent. Erdogan, who has blamed “extremists” for the spread of protests, has introduced curbs on alcohol, objected to popular television programs and said he hopes to preside over a “pious generation” of young people. “The government is trying to impose restrictions on my social life, it is trying to annihilate me,” said Hakan Badik, a 21-year-old musician, in the morning of June 2 as he gazed around Taksim Square in the center of Istanbul where the protests began, now blocked to traffic by barricades the protesters erected. “I don’t feel myself safe or free outside this area.” Erdogan has won successive elections, with a growing share of the vote, by campaigning as a leader who has expanded freedoms in Turkey, as well as delivering economic growth. He points to majority support for an easing of restrictions on Islamic practices, such as wearing the headscarf, that were imposed by past governments, often under the tutelage of a secular army whose powers have also been clipped. Holding Hands Without opposing the relaxation of curbs on religion, some protesters say it has translated into a restriction of their own freedoms. Gizem Oray, 21, was among a crowd of students dodging tear gas and water cannons fired by police in Ankara on June 3. She described how two weeks earlier, a roommate and her boyfriend were attacked by a group of men wearing Islamic dress for holding hands on the street. “These guys would never have dared to do this, in the heart of the capital, a few years ago,” she said. “This government is responsible, there’s no other explanation.” The wave of protests against Erdogan and his government began when police used tear gas and water cannons to clear a small group of demonstrators out of a park near Taksim, where they were opposing redevelopment plans. It has spread to more than 60 cities, leaving hundreds of police and protesters injured. Clashes continued overnight, including in the southeastern provinces of Tunceli and Elazig, after a fifth day of protests yesterday. ‘Different Choices’ At least two people have died at rallies, one hit by a car in Istanbul. The circumstances of the other death, in Hatay province near the Syrian border, are under investigation, Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said yesterday. In the western city of Izmir, a stronghold of the secular opposition, police have been ordered to arrest 38 people for spreading false information about the protests, and 25 have already been detained, the state-run Anatolia news agency said. Erdogan had earlier blamed posts on Twitter for fueling the unrest. Speaking from an Ankara balcony on election night in July 2007, Erdogan said he would govern on behalf of those who voted against him, too, because “their concerns are our concerns. We see different choices as an extension of democracy.” Arinc, seeking to calm the protests, echoed that language. He apologized to the victims of excessive police violence at the start of the unrest, and said the government respects different lifestyles and is open to demands from all sides when they’re expressed peacefully.

Erdogan's aim: Suffocating the right to protest in Turkey

When only pro-Erdogan demonstrations are given official backing and dissenters are greeted by tear gas – then there's no meaning to the right to protest in Turkey.

Despite the initial Turkish media blackout of events on the streets of Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Izmit, Adana, Bursa and other major Turkish cities, social media and the international press have been flooded by shocking images of heavy-handed police tactics against Turkish activists voicing their right to protest. A peaceful demonstration against government sponsored urban development of a central Istanbul park, one of the last green spaces left in the urban sprawl of central Istanbul, has been met, day after day, with volleys of tear gas and water cannon. According to a non-governmental doctors' association, over 1,000 were injured from last Friday’s protest alone. The police's aggression helped morph the protest into a much larger public expression against draconian police tactics and the authoritarian nature of the government. This is not the first time Turkish police have used disproportionate force against peaceful demonstrations. Just one month ago, the police indiscriminately volleyed tear gas to disperse a May Day rally, injuring both protesters and passers-by. In December 2012, students from Ankara’s prestigious Middle East Technical University (METU), who were protesting a visit by Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, and his ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) higher education privatization policies, were subjected to arrests, tear gas and jail threats. One student was hit in the head by a gas canister fired directly at students. In October 2012 pepper spray, tear gas and water cannon were also used to prevent Turks from celebrating Republic Day, marking the 89th anniversary of the founding of the modern Turkish state. Throughout 2011 and 2012, when the Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (KDP) led demonstrations demanding greater Kurdish rights long repressed throughout Turkey’s history, police again reacted with overwhelming force. Over 300 protesters were injured and more than 3,500 arrests were made. During the same period, 1,700 Turkish citizens held a hunger strike calling for better conditions for Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Protesters were given no open space to demonstrate their support, and the ailing conditions of the activists failed to strike a sympathetic chord among the AKP. All of the above protests were either prevented or brutally suppressed by the police; by no accident, all these protests ran counter to the agenda or policies of Erdogan's ruling AKP. However, not all protests in Turkey are subject to such harsh police crackdowns. Demonstrations in favour of Erdogan and the AKP are not only sanctioned, but are supported, encouraged and even given direct logistical assistance. In January 2009, Erdogan stormed off the stage at the Davos World Economic Forum after an angry exchange with Israeli president Shimon Peres. Thousands of people turned out for a pro- Erdogan demonstration at Istanbul airport to greet the returning Prime Minister.The Istanbul municipality, controlled by Erdogan’s party, arranged special free journeys on public transport for pro-government protesters to get to the show of support. The municipality also distributed Palestinian flags and other relevant provisions. It is also worth noting the case of the protests after the Mavi Marmara incident where nine pro-Palestinian activists of Turkish origin were killed by Israeli commandos. Tens of thousands of Turks held rallies in several Turkish cities shouting both anti-Israeli and pro-government slogans. Some protesters even tried to attack the Israeli Consulate in Istanbul and its embassy in Ankara. No tear gas was fired, nor did the police use water canon to disperse the protesters. Instead the activists were supplied with flags and banners by municipalities or NGOs affiliated with the AKP. In February 2012, tens of thousands of people staged a protest rally close to Taksim Square, the epicentre of the current demonstrations. However, this demonstration commemorated the 20th anniversary of the killing of 600 Azeri civilians by Armenians during the Ngorno-Karabakh conflict. Militant anti-Armenian slogans were shouted as well as threats of violence such as, “You are all Armenians, you are all bastards”. However, then-interior minister Idris Naim Sahin from the AKP joined the rally and delivered a supportive speech. No tear gas, no water cannon, no injuries. Protests in Turkey are not always met by violent police action, but that is of course only if they are in favour of Erdogan or his party's agenda. As Erdogan recently commented, “If it comes down to making a meeting, if you gather 100,000 people, I can gather a million”. Indeed, that's because pro-AKP protests receive support, encouragement and are not suppressed by the government or its institutions. Such a selective right to protest is not a right at all.

Emre Caliskan is a London based freelance journalist writing on Turkey and Middle East Affairs. Simon A. Waldman is a lecturer in Middle Eastern Studies at King's College London.