Turkey Elections: Erdogan Victory or Increasing Polarisation?
The Turkish local elections that took place on 30 March 2014 were billed as a clear victory for Prime Minister Recip Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party.
The Turkish local elections that took place on 30 March 2014 were billed as a clear victory for Prime Minister Recip Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party.
Two days of clashes and street barricades followed the brutal police effort to clear Taksim Square and Gezi park of protesters, ahead of Erdogan's show of strength with mass rallies in Ankara and Istanbul. Five different trade union and professional bodies called a one day protest strike today, June 17.
After the Istanbul regional governor announced that there would be no attack on the protestors at Gezi Park and Taksim Square, the police marched into Taksim under the pretext of “cleaning” the square. Allegedly, they wanted to “clear” the square of barricades and forbidden flags and symbols like the PKK or Kurdistan flag and banners with Abdullah Ocalan on them.