Turkish
protests
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A Turkish
protester dubbed the "standing man" has led a vigil on Istanbul's
Taksim Square days after the authorities evicted demonstrators.
Performance
artist Erdem Gunduz stood silently for eight hours, facing a portrait of Kemal
Ataturk, the founder of modern, secular Turkey.
Hundreds of
others joined him in the square, which was reopened on Monday, before being
dispersed by police.
Mr Gunduz
later told the BBC he had wanted to take a symbolic stand.
Two leading
trade unions held rallies and a one-day strike in defiance of Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday.
Mr Gunduz
appeared in the square at around 18:00 (15:00 GMT) on Monday and remained there
until 02:00 when police moved in.
Ten people
who refused to be moved on were detained.
"There
are many, many young people on the streets," Mr Gunduz told the BBC.
"I'm
nothing... The idea is important: why people resist the government. The
government doesn't want to understand, didn't try to understand why people are
on the streets. This is really silent resistance. I hope people stop and think
'what happened there?'"
His protest
quickly captured the imagination of the protest movement. The hash tag
"duranadam" ("standing man") dominated Turkish-language
Twitter on Tuesday morning.
Mr Gunduz's
protest contrasts sharply with the violent clashes of recent weeks, in which
some 5,000 people have been injured and at least four have died.
The
protests began on 28 May against a plan to redevelop Istanbul's Gezi Park, on
the city's central Taksim Square, but it snowballed into nationwide
anti-government protests after the perceived high-handed response of the
authorities under their three-term prime minister, Mr Erdogan.
Related Article:
Erdem
Gunduz (C) stands on Taksim square following what had been
a lone protest June
18, 2013 (AFP, Marco Longari)
|
“… Turmoil in Turkey, ostensibly to protect a park, was instigated by the CIA’s “black ops” to stoke the fire between the Sunnis and Shi’ites and lead to a blazing war. Just as all other countries in your world, Turkey has policies that are not satisfying every citizen, but it is economically sound and progressive—and that’s what the Illuminati want to destroy. Although their global network has come apart at the seams, a few peak individuals are stuck in their delusion that they will take over the entire Mideast and move on to control the rest of the world too. Most assuredly, that will not happen, and when the unrest in Turkey subsides, and it shall soon, some reforms will emerge and further strengthen the country’s progressive path. …”
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