Tear Gas Becomes a Norm in Taksim

Today's most popular video on Turkish social media is a satirical short about recent political demonstrations in Taksim and how the police stopped them violently.

Produced by an NGO called Pangea Kultur, this viral video imagines the famous nostalgic tram of Taksim with a twist.

In the video, there is a stewardess in the one-car tram, presenting safety instructions to the passengers for the 10-minute drive through Istiklal Avenue.

According to the instructions, emergency lemons are beside the passenger seats to apply to the face and eyes in case of police intervention.

Weather forecasts warn that there might be more tear gas in the atmosphere depending on the scale of political marches. 

And passengers should note that there are seventy-five exiting streets on Istiklal Avenue. 

In the end, the stewardess shows a placard that reads "Taksim is ours."

Watch it here:

Reyhanli Follow-Up: Erdoganists vs. Gulenists?

In Reyhanli town near Turkey's porous border with Syria, the deadliest terror attack had happened last week. The aftermath was messy on so many levels:

* Although the town was one of the few constituencies in Hatay province that overwhelmingly voted for the governing AKP in the last elections, its residents took up the streets to protest Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan. "Government, resign!" chants reached Ankara as well.

* With a lot of tear gas and batons, police have been suppressing the protests harshly since the first day. Meanwhile, a local court ordered a media ban on the coverage of twin bombings and a higher court revoked it only after a full week.

* Authorities were effective only when it comes to restricting citizens' rights, like gathering, demonstration and freedom of information. On the other hand, the security at the site of the attack had remained lax hours after the event, while officials confessed to incompetence and negligence.

* So, after a full week, all we have is official statements and conflicting accounts that were leaked by various authorities to the media. The picture that they draw tells us that some Turkish collaborators did it for the Syrian regime. Pro-government media also accused local Alawites, as Reyhanli is predominantly Sunni.

* But there are still a lot of black holes. Police say that scores of security cameras in Reyhanli were either broken or turned off during the attack. After a previous car bomb attack in Cilvegozu border gate, police had been blamed by opposition MPs for hiding the CCTV footage that was allegedly proving that the Syrian rebels, not the regime agents, organized it.

* Beyond such arguments that there might be a cover-up in the establishment, there are even bigger mysteries. For instance, nobody explained yet why a corpse was tied to one of the car bombs with copper wires, even though this photo was in almost all newspapers in Turkey including Hurriyet, Milliyet, Sabah and Aksam just after the bombing.

* In the end, fifty people died, Turkish society is even more divided and many people don't have any trust for the official investigation. The only indisputable outcome of this process is how the crime scene became another arena in the silent fight between the Gulenist-dominated police force and the Erdoganist-dominated national intelligence service (MIT).

* The fight is being fought through media with leaks from both sides. Firstly, MIT said that its agents had warned the police three days before the attack, as they had gathered all the necessary intelligence. Then, the police defended themselves with its very own leak today, alleging that the police were ready to capture the terrorists, but didn't do it because MIT asked them to wait.

* A pro-government columnist openly accused the police and a Gulenist newspaper cited his words in a rather misleading way, writing that he was saying some "intelligence flaws contributed to the success of the deadly bombings."

* Two leading powerhouses in Turkey are being controlled either by Erdogan or Gulenists. While Erdogan is a political figure, Fethullah Gulen -as a cleric now based in Pennsylvania- leads Hizmet, the most influential social movement in Turkey. Both of them have the backing of several economic players among the Anatolian Tigers. 

* The rift in sharing their increasing (and increasingly harder to share) power had been recently surfaced when the police tried to summon MIT chief Hakan Fidan, who was representing Erdogan in negotiations with the PKK. A joint declaration was not enough to end the talk about the rift, because Gulenists kept criticizing MIT and Erdoganists defended the organization passionately. Many think that Reyhanli attack happened to be another opportunity for both sides to undermine each other.

* Erdogan ruled out the prospect of an intelligence flaw in the attack, admitting that "a lack of communication between the police and the intelligence" was possible. Consequently, the local police chief was replaced. I don't know if the former or the new police chief is a Gulenist or an Erdoganist. I'm actually against categorizing people with such labels, but as the principle in my profession goes, "journalism must serve as an independent monitor of power" and such broad conceptions are sometimes a need.

* What will happen now? Well, it seems both sides of the conflict see that it turns out to be a zero-sum game. Hence, Erdogan sent one of his aides, Bulent Arinc, to meet Gulen when he visited Washington this week. Arinc told that neither camps should speak to each other through media. Although no statements about the meeting were made, we can assume that a dialogue is possible, as Gulen -at least- accepted to host Arinc. Moreover, the fact that no leak has been made after the meeting may show that both camps will probably reconcile, maybe by making some concessions to each other, before a critical year that Turkey is likely to hold three elections.

Who Wants To Be A Racist?

It seems that racism has become the theme of a TV show in Europe, but the audience is more keen to force it off the air.

No, I won't write about the controversial incident in Istanbul when a Fenerbahce fan waved a banana towards Galatasaray footballers during the latest derby, allegedly insulting their African players, triggering a huge reaction in Turkey.

I'm going to write about another story that was also featured on Hurriyet's front page yesterday, but this one was from Central Europe.

The trial of five young men of Turkish origin who allegedly beat a 20-year-old Thai man to death in Berlin had begun. And they were caged behind a glass box like Hosni Mubarak. They were already convicted, it seemed.

The next day, the same German judicial system compassionately treated Beate Zschaepe, who was charged in the murders of eight Turks and a Greek as a result of the racist terrorism of the National Socialist Underground (NSU). Wearing a grey business blazer and hanging around in the courtroom freely, Zschaepe had just stolen the show.

So, two different kind of shows were put on display in Germany, based on the ethnicity of the actors.

I don't think that German authorities delibaretely implement an anti-Turkish policy. But I do believe that the anti-Turkish/anti-Muslim sentiment that was more visible in the past sustains at a deeper level in several European countries.

To find an example, let's cross the virtual border and visit Belgium. 

In 2010, Flemish politician Jan Peter Peumans was a contestant on the Belgian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. When the host asked for which nation did Voltaire call "the most disgusting nation on Earth", Peumans quickly picked Turks over Flemish and Jews.

After he was told that his answer was wrong, Peumans explained that he actually knew the correct answer, but didn't have the courage to offend Jews, because they were "very sensitive". For Peumans, Turks were just an easier target.

But the things are changing...

As Turkey re-emergences as a regional economic and political power, the effects of the New Media also favor this country among a few others.

Consider especially the social media that made networked communities like Turks (e.g. over 31 million Turkish users of Facebook can make any international survey redundant now because of the huge potential to manipulate them with mass voting) globally more powerful.

That's why, we may be witnessing a silent shift as Turks stop to forget. Instead, they can be as conscious and well-organized around their sensitivities as the Jewish community. Having a strong community to protect weak individuals who are being victimized by racism and discrimination is surely a good thing.

One example was recently given by the host of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire in Belgium. No, I'm not talking about the Belgian version this time. I'm talking about the Turkish one:

When the Turkish host Kenan Isik was briefly taken into custody while passing through customs in Brussels on May 10, he chose not to remain silent.

Isik, who was traveling to the Belgian capital to participate in a cultural event, accused custom officers of showing discrimination toward Muslims. Turkish social media reacted furiously and Turkish Foreign Ministry demanded an explanation from Belgium.

If even Isik, who had this trademark calm and composed manners, put a livid outrage on display after such an incident, you can expect more Turks, especially younger generations, to say "No" to all kinds of practices of crypto-racism in Europe.

Not only Turks in Europe, but also foreigners in Turkey, like Galatasaray players Didier Drogba and Emmanuel Eboue show us that more and more people are brave enough to show zero tolerance to racism not only at institutional, but also on individual level now.

Fighting racism more decisively in Europe and Turkey has got the potential to change both of them in a positive way.

The Only Pyramid Tomb in Anatolia is Revealed With a Surprising Story

Here is one more reason to visit one of the most beautiful corners of Turkey.

Marmaris is a famous town of the Turkish Riviera.

30 km. away from this town, a sleepy village called Turgutlu lies.

For centuries, Turkish villagers considered a little structure in Turgutlu as an historic Islamic shrine.

It was attributed that the tomb belonged to an Islamic saint called "Cag Baba" (Father Age). People prayed there, hoping that God would make their prayers come true for sake of this saint.

Turkish archaeologists have just revealed that there has never been a person named Cag Baba, as this tomb was built long before Islam.

The Greek epigraph that has recently been unearthened says that the structure was built as a tomb for a fighter named Diagoras and his wife Aristomakha.

And the most important finding is: This is the only pyramid tomb in Anatolia that still stands today. It is dated to 2nd century BC.

Unfortunately, many pieces inside the tomb were plundered during illegal excavations in the 60s. 

But still, I guess it worths to add it to my travel list when I'll be in Marmaris next time.

Deadliest Terror Attack in Turkey's History Might Be Another Attempt to Derail Peace Talks? But Which One? Syria or PKK?

Turkey was hit by the deadliest terrorist attack in its history.

Two car bombs exploded in front of some public buildings in the southern Turkish town of Reyhanli near the border with Syria, killing more than forty people.

During that short time between two explosions, Reyhanli was looking like a warzone in the Syrian civil war, like Homs, inauspiciously realizing Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's claim that "Syria is our domestic problem."

Whodunit?

Erdogan said that the attack could be related to Syria OR the ongoing Kurdish peace process in Turkey.

Both of these processes were on track towards a critical threshold last week:

1) Russia and U.S. had agreed to organize an international conference to find a peaceful solution in Syria.

2) And PKK militants had started to commence a "historic" withdrawal from Turkey.

So, it is normal that Erdogan, who will be making a crucial visit to Washington next week, is suspicious about the timing of the attack. Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was another official who points out the timing, warning about a possible "provocation." It should also be remembered that Ankara was seemingly pushing the U.S. into a military intervention in Syria, especially via a no-fly zone.

As David Ignatius had recently argued, extremists from both sides of the civil war in Syria could try to derail the peace process nowadays. Some hawks of the Assad regime or the anti-Assad jihadists who try to provoke military intervention...

I believe that the rogue fractions inside the PKK, whose leaders admit that some were against the ongoing withdrawal, could also be working with their former boss, the Syrian regime, to sow discord in the most sensitive region in Turkey, considering its sectarian demography.

There might be overlapping interests working behind the curtain or there might be not, but something else is crystal clear:

The Erdogan government pays the price of its (IMHO unnecessarily) aggressive policy in Syria, not only by paving way to insecurity and instability on the southern borders, but also by losing a lot of votes.

Some locals have cursed and swore at Erdogan with a very strong language live on two separate TV channels today, one of them was a pro-government news outlet.

As a more dangerous sign, some people in Reyhanli attacked Syrian refugees, damaging their cars. (According a recent report by a nationalist newspaper, the number of Syrian refugees in Reyhanli is 80.000. Only 70.000 people were living in this town before the civil war):

There is a significant risk that the public perception of the whole country, not only the towns on the Syrian border, could be overwhelmingly "terrorized". Or, considering the PKK withdrawal, we can say "re-terrorized."

The Turkish government's initial efforts in 2011 to negotiate with the PKK was derailed when a tape was leaked. In that tape, a Turkish intelligence official was complaining to the PKK representative that "they could see all the bombs that the PKK piled up in metropolises."

Are somebody piling up bombs in other Turkish cities now to derail another peace process, whether in Syria or Turkey, or is a long term plan on the make to destabilize a rising regional power?

We'll see...

Ignoring All the Warnings from the U.S., Erdogan Is Eager To Cross the Syrian Border

After NBC asked whether Turkey would support a U.S.-enforced no-fly zone in Syria or American soldiers on the ground there, "Right from the beginning...we would say 'yes,'" Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has just said.

Furthermore, he argued that President Barack Obama's "red line" was crossed, as it was "clear the regime has used chemical weapons and missiles."

In reality, the United Nations panel investigating war crimes in Syria had announced three days ago that it had found no conclusive evidence that either side in the conflict used chemical weapons.

Leading U.N. investigator Carla Del Ponte, on the hand, had recently said that she was "stupefied by Syrian opposition's sarin use."

But during the NBC interview, Erdogan rejected any suggestion that the rebels might have used chemical weapons without elaborating on the matter.

So, apparently, Turkey's Prime Minister tries to push the U.S. into a war in Syria by ignoring international bodies and relying on the evidence that only he could see.

Of course, believing in the existence of leprechauns is one thing and selecting them as the baseline of some lethal decisions is another...

Unfortunately, Erdogan turns from a national risk into a global one.

And it seems that he just didn't read (or care about) the warnings that have been coming from Washington these days.

Firstly, U.S. Ambassador James F. Jeffrey co-wrote an article for the Washington Institute to criticize Ankara's flirting with the Syrian jihadists.

Then, two other former U.S. ambassadors in Turkey, Eric Edelman (Republican) and Morton Abramowitz (Democrat) prepared a report for Bipartisan Policy Center to warn that Ankara's support for the Muslim Brotherhood is problematic.

In a similar note, International Crisis Group reported that Turkey's southern borders are now "blurred," as more and more jihadists pass to Syria illegally, but under the silent approval of Ankara.

And finally, Washington Post columnist David Ignatius wrote the following words:

"Squeezing the extremists will be impossible without more help from Turkey, across whose border the Syrian jihadist fighters travel daily to receive money and supplies from wealthy Gulf Arabs. The United States is hoping that Turkey will crack down harder on this cross-border traffic; this will be a key topic when Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visits Washington this month."

It seems that Erdogan, whose political fortunes are increasingly dependent on the Syrian crisis, is ready to cooperate with anyone, whether jihadists or the U.S. Army, to overthrow Bashar Assad.

But such an obsession now clouds his judgment, as he can't see that the international policy trend is driving the Syrian problem towards a peaceful transition.

I'm sure that Erdogan will be enlightened in Washington and he'll come back home as a peacenik.


PS: Several hours after the publication of the initial story, NBC retracted the crucial remark in the first paragraph. Here is NBC editor's note: "An earlier version of this story included a response from Erdogan to a two-part question about whether he would support a U.S.-enforced no-fly zone and American troops in Syria. The translator only asked Erdogan about the no-fly zone, however, and the story has been changed to reflect that." Hurriyet's print edition published the correct (retracted) version, but some other Turkish newspapers didn't notice NBC's retraction in the night and published the initial remarks. So, Prime Minister's Office announced today that Erdogan didn't say anything about U.S. troops in Syria, as he just told that Turkey can support a UNSC-sanctioned no-fly zone. But I don't think that the difference matters a lot. As Reuters reported today, "setting up a no-fly zone would require U.S. air strikes, and possibly forces sent into Syria, at the risk of casualties."

The Battle of Taksim: Turkish Police Won, Democracy Lost

As I tweeted earlier in the day, Ottomans had around 60.000 soldiers in the Battle of Vienna. 

Today 40.000 Turkish policemen besieged Taksim to stop laborers organize a mass demonstration in the historically symbolic square of Istanbul, shutting off almost all public transport options, including drawbridges, metro, metrobus and ferries.

The Ottoman army had failed, while Turkish police were victorious, as they have better warfare technologies today:

First of all, I mean tear gas. Lots of tear gas, as can be seen from the photo above. (More photos)

And a tear gas canister that broke the skull of an 17-year-old girl at a house...

Also, water guns... But imagine using them to attempt murdering a few people, instead of just dispersing a crowd, like they did today. Five journalists were also injured.

It is rather ironic that the use of tear gas in warfare is prohibited by various international treaties, while it is free to use them for riot control.

Especially ironic in the context of what happens in Syria nowadays...

* * *

Surely, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan is not a dictator like Bashar Assad. He is elected and still being supported by millions of citizens. 

But still, democracy is not the rule of majority. First of all, it is the rule of law. And Turkish laws say that a citizen has a right to travel and demonstrate. Today, both of these rights were severely violated by the state.

Besides security concerns, local authorities cite the continuing renovation of Taksim Square for the May Day restrictions. The most ominous sign lies near that square, where Turkish laborers couldn't reach today.

Erdogan had announced earlier in the week that the only park in Taksim with some trees inside would be turned into a shopping mall and a residence. Just a few months ago, his aides had denied that such a development plan was on agenda. A mosque construction is also planned.

This is the most dangerous side of Erdogan: Arbitrary decisions that are not based on popular demand, but just wild capitalism with an Islamic sauce. 

One must be really naive to think that Turkey would be a better democracy if Erdogan can further solidify his power with the presidential system that he tailor-made for himself.

"We are not strangers to this concept (presidential system). Ottomans had experienced something similar in the past," Erdogan had told during the same speech that he declared his plans about Taksim's new shopping mall/residence.

In Taksim and beyond, he's got better troops compared to Ottomans at the gates of Vienna. 

Still, for democrats, watching Turkish police being as successful as Bahrain's in suppressing political demonstrations is just a dismal signal for a possible future:

A police state under a post-modern sultan with a nation that can shop freely, but can't speak up...