Showing posts with label Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Show all posts

Wednesday 5 August 2020

Het beroemdste museum van Istanboel terug omgevormd tot een moskee

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan heeft de Hagia Sophia, het beroemdste museum van Istanboel, weer omgevormd tot een moskee, wat wereldwijd terecht veel stof deed opwaaien.

Het gebouw dat jarenlang een oord was voor allerlei sociale, religieuze en culturele groepen, werd zo een symbool van de politieke islam in Turkije. De huidige president van Turkije hoopt zo zijn populariteit en positie te verstevigen.

Het land kijkt tegen een ernstige economische crisis aan en heeft een volk dat het zwaar te verduren krijgt onder de pandemie, waarbij vele mensen de hoop in de Turkse politiek verliezen.

Slechts een minderheid van conservatieven is tevreden met de Hagia Sophia als moskee en daarmee de verdere islamisering van het land. Want er is al langer sprake van een tendens van secularisering binnen de Turkse samenleving, meent Hussein Solomon, professor politieke wetenschappen op de University of the Free State in Zuid-Afrika.

Wednesday 27 July 2016

In the aftermath of the failed coup

Erdogan is continuing to clean up his country, making sure all those who could ever say something against him shall be taken out of the way.

It did not end by 8,800 policemen, 6,000 soldiers, 2,700 judges and prosecutors, dozens of governors, and more than 100 generals – or just under one-third of the general corps. More than 30,000 teacher shall not be there to give classes and educate the citizens about the human rights and to show them what went wrong in the last centuries so that they could avoid such historical missteps again.

Already before the coup several newspapers and blogs were silenced, but now also some 20 news websites critical of the government have also been blocked.

The Turkish government says it is carrying out a legitimate security operation to safeguard the country in the aftermath of a failed coup that came close to toppling the elected president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the early hours of Saturday morning.

For the Turkish government all those who have links to Fethullah Gülen, the US-based Islamic cleric are also responsible for the more than 300 dead at the weekend.

Large swaths of the population back the actions by the president, whom they idolise for boosting Turkey’s economy and representing the country’s lower classes. In Europe we can see daily thousands of enthusiast carrying the Turkish flag and shouting "Erdoğan". But not only in Turkey we see pro-Erdoğan rallies since the weekend. In Belgium several Erdoğan fans made life sour to other minded Turks or to those they think responsible, though they live here in Belgium.

Many Turks consider this present president the father of the re-risen nation, Turkey never having seen this kind of president or prime minister. For many Turks, even those living abroad Erdoğan’s perceived achievements since reaching power in 2003 lifted the country and made a better life for the Turks.
“No other president or prime minister achieved what he has done – in economic terms, in charitable terms, and in patriotic terms. There’s such a difference, a world of difference, in our lifestyle. Healthcare has especially improved. We have opportunities, and we have options.”
 is what we hear a lot.

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Additional reading

  1. Bosphorus bloodshed
  2. Belgian aftershock from the Turkish coup d’état
  3. Editor of Flemish Gülen inspired newspaper threatened
  4. State of emergency and respect for human rights

Tuesday 4 June 2013

Unprecedented violence against protesters and social protest

A festival atmosphere prevailed Monday in Taksim Square on the fourth day of protests set off by a brutal police crackdown of a protest against removing park trees that has spiraled into massive anti-government demonstrations.

The protests have spread to 67 of Turkey's 81 provinces, according to the semi-official Anadolou News Agency. On Monday, a confederation of unions claiming some 240,000 members added its voice to the anti-Erdogan chorus, saying it would go on strike against what it called the "fascism" of Erdogan's ruling party.
Português: Vista da Praça Taksim à noite
Taksim square in peaceful days (Photo credit: Wikipedia)


Erdogan dismissed the street protests as organized by Turkey's opposition and extremist groups and angrily rejected comparisons with the Arab Spring uprisings.
"We already have a spring in Turkey," he said, alluding to the nation's free elections. "But there are those who want to turn this spring into winter.
"Be calm, these will all pass," he said.

Tensions were high near police barricades. People wearing homemade gas masks and carrying sticks made their way down toward the Besiktas neighborhood, which acts as the front line between protester-controlled territory and police. Many had scrawled their blood types on their forearms with magic markers in case they are injured.

The fighting was fiercest in Besiktas near an Ottoman-era Dolmabahce Palace where the prime minister has his Istanbul office. Freelance photographer Dogan Emre was at the scene until about 2 a.m. Monday.
"Police fired hundreds of tear gas (canisters) and they didn't stop," he said. "There were many injured men and women and there weren't any ambulances. Civilians were helping the injured in a mosque. They used the mosque like a hospital."
By midday Monday the subway system had reopened and municipal workers were cleaning the streets. The smell of paint thinner was in the air as anti-government graffiti was scrubbed off storefronts.

The Turkish Medical Association claimed that at least 3,195 people had been injured in clashes Sunday and Monday. Only 26 of them were in serious or critical condition, it said. One protester, Mehmet Ayvalitas, died of his injuries, the association said.

The association reported that the bulk of the injuries occurred in Istanbul, where the protests began before spreading to Ankara, Izmir, Adana and other locations.
International groups including Amnesty International have criticized the police response as excessive. In Ankara Sunday night, a CNN crew witnessed authorities roughing up at least one protester. One police officer kicked a CNN videographer, CNN's Nick Paton Walsh reported, and a CNN crew in Istanbul Sunday also witnessed bloodied protesters.




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Gevolgen van beperkingen van vrijheid in Turkijë

Vorige dinsdag begon in Istanboel een massaal protest met betogingen tegen plannen om op de plaats van een park in de binnenstad een kopie te laten verrijzen van het complex uit de tijd van het Ottomaanse Rijk. De protesten liepen uit op betogingen tegen het beleid van Erdogan.
Taksim Square, Istanbul
Taksim Square, Istanbul (Photo credit: Wikipedia)



De protesten breiden zich uit naar andere delen van het land, ook al hielden de Turkse televisie zenders het gebeuren uit de ether. Maar de mensne hopen via de sociale media meer mensen op te trommelen en op het gevaar te wijzen van de mogelijke islamisering en beperking van hun rechten, die de regering meer en meer door voert.

De afgelopen nacht is nogmaals op verschillende plekken in het land gevochten en kwam het tot confrontaties met de oproerpolitie.
Sommige kantoren van de regerende AK-partij zijn in brand gestoken.
Rond het centrale Taksim-plein in Istanboel, waar het geweld het hevigst was, wierpen demonstranten barricaden op om te proberen de politie te verdrijven. Er is veel traangas ingezet en sommige betogers spreken zelfs van het verboden Saron-gas. Wegen rond het kantoor van premier Erdogan werden afgesloten, zo meldt Reuters. Een demonstrant reed met een kleine graafmachine in op de politie; anderen demonstranten volgden. In een nabijgelegen moskee werden gewonden behandeld door medici. In het centrum van hoofdstad Ankara is de politie een winkelcentrum binnengevallen. Een paar honderd demonstranten die zich daar verscholen, zijn vastgehouden.


Demonstranten bij een vuur in hoofdstad Ankara. Op verschillende plekken in Turkije kwam het tot confrontaties met de politie. Foto AFP / Adem Altan
Demonstranten bij een vuur in hoofdstad Ankara. Op verschillende plekken in Turkije kwam het tot confrontaties met de politie. Foto AFP / Adem Altan


De premier die al tien jaar regeert heeft het land meer en meer tot een werkelijk islamitische in plaats van religie onafhankelijke staat gemaakt. Zijn autoritaire stijl, zijn conservatieve opvattingen over de islam en zijn politiek ten aanzien van Syrië stoten velen tegen de borst.

De Turkse regering is verder aan het afdalen naar grotere beperking van het volk. Vooral op het geestelijk vlak wil de regering duidelijk een strekking gaan aannemen die overeen komt met erg strenge islamitische waarden. Hierbij valt wel op dat de regering met twee maten en gewichten werkt. Zo wordt het alcohol gebruik aan banden gelegd, maar beseft men dat indien men in de hotels geen alcohol meer zou toelaten een heel deel van de toeristen en hun geld het land niet meer zou aandoen. En die financiële goudmijn zou de regering niet graag verliezen. Daar is het geld belangrijkere dan het geloof, maar ondertussen beperkt het wel zijn eigen landgenoten.

Men moet zich afvragen of de regering de stabiliteit wil bewaren die de afgelopen tien jaar is gegroeid en die heeft bijgedragen tot de economische welstand.
“Het is altijd verstandiger om het compromis en de verzoening van verschillende sectoren van de samenleving na te streven”, zegt bisschop Louis Pelâtre, apostolisch vicaris van Istanboel, in een interview met ‘Fides’ naar aanleiding van het recente en door de ordediensten keihard aangepakte straatprotest in Istanboel en elders in het land.

De bisschop stelt dat de kleine christelijke minderheid in Turkije niet rechtstreeks is betrokken bij de rellen en protesten tegen de regering. Volgens hem beging de regering van Erdogan de fout om de vooruitgang van het voorbije decennium te willen benutten om van bovenaf een islamisering op te leggen. Hij hoopt dat de sociale onrust de regering aanspoort om haar plannen te herzien. “Erdogan heeft de steun nodig van iedereen als hij wil blijven regeren.”

De apostolische vicaris gelooft niet in een open strijd. “De vergelijking tussen de rellen in Turkije en de conflicten in het Midden-Oosten gaat niet op.” Ook Erdogan vindt dat zulke vergelijking helemaal niet op gaat mist er volgens hem reeds vrijheid van stemmen en democratie bestond in zijn land.

Volgens de Turkse minister van Binnenlandse Zaken Muammar Güller zijn bij de demonstraties van de afgelopen dagen 173 gewonden gevallen, 58 burgers en 115 politieagenten. Volgens de vereniging van dokters in Ankara zijn er zaterdagavond bij de rellen in de hoofdstad alleen al 414 burgers gewond, van wie er 10 ernstige hoofdwonden hadden.
Volgens de minister zijn er sinds dinsdag 235 manifestaties geweest in 67 steden. De politie heeft volgens de minister 1.700 mensen aangehouden bij de manifestaties. Voor het grootste deel zijn die ondervraagd en daarna snel weer vrijgelaten.


Lees meer hier over:

‘Twee doden en duizend gewonden bij onlusten in Turkije’

Opnieuw onlusten in Turkije - 'extreem gewelddadige nacht' 
Opnieuw rellen met betogers in Ankara en Istanbul

Fotoverslag: Onlusten in Turkije
filmverslag: Onlusten in Turkije houden aan

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Monday 3 June 2013

Growing separation and problems in Turkey


AP567678613414.jpg
A man wears a makeshift gas mask during protests in Turkey on May 31, 2013 (AP)


In the early afternoon Friday, Turkish police surrounded a peaceful group of protesters, and, shortly after the end of Friday prayers, began to volley a slew of tear gas canisters to disperse the crowd. The protesters had been camped in Gezi Park -- a small leafy park wedged near the bustling Taksim square -- for days to prevent the ripping out of trees to make way for the building of a shopping mall. 
The number of protesters “suggest the birth of a new Turkey—a majority middle class that cherishes individual rights and the environment.

Protesters gathered in their thousands in Taksim Square in Istanbul again on Sunday.
The gathering was relatively peaceful after two days of Turkey's fiercest anti-government demonstrations for years.

Youths had lit fires and scuffled with police in parts of Istanbul and Ankara in the early morning but there was little violence by the afternoon.
Thousands of protesters had celebrated on Saturday night after police withdrew from Taksim Square, the focal point of nationwide protests against the government.
What had begun as an outcry against tree-felling in nearby Gezi park on Friday had snowballed into a broader protest against the government's increasingly intolerant, conservative agenda.

Since the first clashes on Friday the unrest has spread to dozens of other cities.
Interior Minister Muammer Guler claimed that 53 citizens and 26 police officers had been injured across the country.
He also said that police had arrested 939 protesters in more than 90 demonstrations in 48 cities.
Officials said a dozen people were being treated in hospital.
But Amnesty International reported two deaths and more than a thousand injured.


Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan, who retains vast public support, especially among the conservative rural population that has slowly migrated to the city, all but ensuring victor, has chastised the protests, claiming that the hundreds of people were unfamiliar with Ottoman history, and that the projects would continue unabated. In turn, the police have been using tear gas to forcibly evict the protesters camped in the park. As the use of force has escalated, the protests have morphed from an occupy style movement into a larger-scale rebuke of the AKP's heavy-handed rule. The protests have now spread to Kocaeli, Edirne, Afyon, Eskisehir, Bodrum, Antalya, Aydin, Trabzon, Mugla, Mersin, Ankara, Adana, and Konya.


My Christadelphian brothers where this weekend under attack from two over drunk Turkish men and they broke their apartment door and they just could hold the door until Police came . Police came and blamed them to being in their country. They told them “if you have complaint from them come to Police office” but they suggested them to give up about this.

My brethren thought they could help them but when they went to the Police office they accused them to have stimulated them and released them before their eyes.

The bad news is that guys living in their apartment and they are not safe any more in Turkey. “This is the justice that we have here and our rights when we our refugees in Turkey .” they say. “I don’t blame any one and this world has so many suffering inside but i had so many of them in my life. This is just a beginning for us with this problem . Need your prayer and nothing more …” Mahan From Kayseri-Turkey

It is such a shame that the beautiful work Atta Turk had done is nearly all gone. The separation of state and religion would have been the best guaranty for building up a society where different people and different religions could live peacefully together.

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Find some photographs form the protests in Turkey: Protest


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