Cyprus-Forum.com

[Tim Drayton]

Meanwhile, Prime-Minister Erdoğan is not toning down his rhetoric at all. Some excerpts from a speech he made in Adana yesterday:

Biz birkaç çapulcunun yaptıklarını yapmayız. Onlar yakarlar, yıkarlar. Çapulcunun tanımı budur zaten. Onlar kamunun mallarını yakıp yıkarlar. Sivil vatandaşın esnafın dükkanlarını tarumar ederler. Onlar sivil vatandaşın araçlarını da yakarlar yıkarlar. Onlar bu ülkenin başbakanına küfredecek kadar alçaktırlar.

Do not do what a few looters have done. They burn and destroy. This in any case is the definition of a looter. They destroy and burn public property. They rout the shops of civilian citizens and small businessmen. They also burn and destroy the cars of civilian citizens. They are vile enough to swear at the country’s prime-minister.

İnanın bunların yüzde 95’i Gezi Parkı nerede diye sorun bilmezlerdi. Bunlar hayatlarında Gezi Parkı’na da gitmemişlerdir.

Trust me, ask 95 percent of them where Gezi Park is and they won’t know. They have never been to Gezi Park in their lives.

http://www.radikal.com.tr/politika/basb ... iz-1136875

[Tim Drayton]

A report in the Cumhuriyet newspaper, with quotes from a number of police officers, suggests that there is growing unease in the ranks of the police about the violent response to the protests.

Here is the translation of one paragraph of the article:

Ali Özaydın, Gezi Parkı eylemleri sırasında yaşananları kendi açısından şöyle anlatıyor: “Polis arkadaşlarımız hiç uyumadan göreve gitmiş. 24 saat boyunca gösterilerle uğraşmış. 24 saati geçince de olaylar çıktı. Bir arkadaşım, ertesi gün yatağında uyandığında ‘Ben evime nasıl geldiğimi hatırlamıyorum’ diyor. Ve kendi timini bir bayanı tekmelerken televizyondan izliyor. Ben bunu nasıl yaptım diye düşünüyor. Çünkü insanüstü çalıştırıldıklarından dolayı beyin kendini kilitliyor.” Özaydın, Tayyip Erdoğan’ın polisi değiliz diyor: “Olumsuz durumlar çıkınca da polis orantısız güç kullandı şeklinde suçlamaya giriliyor. Bugün de bunu yaşıyoruz. Polis her zaman kurban verilir, diyet polis üzerinde ödenir. Bugün bize Tayyip Erdoğan’ın çocukları diyorlar. Biz kimsenin çocuğu, uşağı değiliz. Artık polis de patlama noktasına geldi.”
Ali Özaydın gives his own take on events in the course of the Gezi Park protests: “My police colleagues have showed up on duty without sleeping at all. They have dealt with demonstrations for 24 hours. After the 24 hours are up, events are still happening. One of my colleagues says when he woke up in bed the next morning he couldn’t remember how he got home. Then he sees his team kicking a woman on television. He asks himself how he could have done that. With them putting in a superhuman effort, the brain shuts itself off.” Özaydın says they are not Tayyip Erdoğan’s police: “When negative things happen, they start accusing the police of using disproportionate force. That’s what we are seeing today. There can always be victims among the police; it is the police that pay the price. Today they are saying that we are Tayyip Erdoğan’s children. We are nobody’s children or lackeys. The police have now reached exploding point.”

http://www.cumhuriyet.com.tr/?hn=421714&kn=7&ka=4&kb=7

It has emerged that six police officers committed suicide last week.This has been attributed to the stress brought on by the Gezi Park protests.

http://www.radikal.com.tr/turkiye/gezi_ ... ti-1136895

[bill cobbett]

Respect to TD for the news and translations above...

... and on to the very important matter of football...

A few hours ago, Galatasaray supporters of the protests have marched in Istanbul with banners saying...

"We Have Drogba, Erdogan Doesn't" ...

"Drogba is the Solution" ...

"Galatasaray is the Resistance"

[Tim Drayton]

Istanbul Provincial Governor, Hüseyin Avni Mutlu, has sent the following message on Twitter to the Gezi Park protestors:

"İki saat uyudum ve uyuyamadım. Sıcak yatakları yerine Gezi Parkı'nda yatan bu ülkenin gençlerine selam vermek için ayaktayım. Kendilerini sadece özgür birey, partiler üstünde yurttaş, hiç kimsenin peşinde olmayan, kendi düşüncelerinin savunucusu görenleri selamlıyorum.

Günlerdir gezi parkında duran bizim ülkemizin insanları ve gençlerine gecikmiş selamlarlarımızı iletiyorum. Sabahınız huzurlu olsun, merhaba.

Her türlü olumlu olumsuz değerlendirme dışında ,bizim nsanımızla,gencimizde konuşmanın ötesinde hiç birşeyin önemli olmadığına inanıyorum. Anlaşsak da anlaşmasak da bizim birbirimizle dertleşmek, birbirimizin gözüne insanca ve adaletle bakmamız şarttır, her fert değerli ve özeldir.

Her türlü eleştiriye açık bir sohbeti, Gezi Parkı'nın kendini sadece özgür birey, yurttaş olarak tanımlayan gençleriyle yapmak istiyorum. Gençler, gezi parkında kuş sesleri, ıhlamur kokusu ve arı vızıltısıyla huzurlu bir sabah varmış doğru mu? Aranızda olmak isterdim."

TRANSLATION:

“I have tossed and turned for two hours. I am on my feet to salute this country’s young people who are sleeping in Gezi Park rather than in their warm beds. I salute those who perceive themselves to be nothing but free individuals, citizens above any party, followers of nobody, the defenders of their own thoughts.

I convey my belated greetings to the people and youth of our country who for days have remained in Gezi Park.

Leaving all manner of positive and negative assessment to one side, I believe that nothing is more important than speaking with our people and our youth. Whether or not we reach agreement, we have got to share our concerns with one another and look one another in the eye with humanity and justice. Every individual is valuable and special.

I wish to engage in conversation in which there is room for all kinds of criticism with the young people of Gezi Park who define themselves purely in terms of being free individuals and citizens. Youngsters, a peaceful morning replete with the sound of birds, the scent of lime and the buzzing of bees has arrived, hasn’t it? I would like to be with you.”

http://www.cumhuriyet.com.tr/?hn=421718&kn=7&ka=4&kb=7

I have just been watching the protestors' TV channel, and the message to the Istanbul Provincial Governor from there seems to be, "Resign first and then come and join us as an ordinary citizen!'

[Kikapu]

Meanwhile, Prime-Minister Erdoğan is not toning down his rhetoric at all. Some excerpts from a speech he made in Adana yesterday:

Biz birkaç çapulcunun yaptıklarını yapmayız. Onlar yakarlar, yıkarlar. Çapulcunun tanımı budur zaten. Onlar kamunun mallarını yakıp yıkarlar. Sivil vatandaşın esnafın dükkanlarını tarumar ederler. Onlar sivil vatandaşın araçlarını da yakarlar yıkarlar. Onlar bu ülkenin başbakanına küfredecek kadar alçaktırlar.

Do not do what a few looters have done. They burn and destroy. This in any case is the definition of a looter. They destroy and burn public property. They rout the shops of civilian citizens and small businessmen. They also burn and destroy the cars of civilian citizens. They are vile enough to swear at the country’s prime-minister.

İnanın bunların yüzde 95’i Gezi Parkı nerede diye sorun bilmezlerdi. Bunlar hayatlarında Gezi Parkı’na da gitmemişlerdir.

Trust me, ask 95 percent of them where Gezi Park is and they won’t know. They have never been to Gezi Park in their lives.

http://www.radikal.com.tr/politika/basb ... iz-1136875

Erdogan loots peoples rights who are secular and he has the nerve to call these demonstrators who do not want to be ruled by a dictator as looter. The 50% who had voted for him does not make him a KING to do as he wants with the country or with the rights of the other 50%. It is true, that absolute power corrupts, absolutely!

Erdogan still doesn't get it, that these demonstrations are no longer about the Gezi Park, so it's not relevant if no one knows where it is. I'm sure vast majority of his supporters do not know where it is either. It is about him being a dictator, or as I call him "Godfather", who wants to make decisions all by himself on who and when someone can take a piss. Someone should remind him that Hitler was too democratically elected. It is not a licence to abuse his power just because he got 50% of the votes, because less than 10% of the voters in the size of Turkey can cause him a great deal of headaches, leading to severe migraine.

Basically, what Erdogan wants to do with the Presidential system if it should get that far, just as it happens in other undemocratic Muslim countries, is the have the Erdogan family Dynasty rule Turkey for the next few hundred years . This is where he wants to take Turkey.

[Tim Drayton]

Basically, what Erdogan wants to do with the Presidential system if it should get that far, just as it happens in other undemocratic Muslim countries, is the have the Erdogan family Dynasty rule Turkey for the next few hundred years . This is where he wants to take Turkey.

I think you are right, and at the very last minute the Turkish people - especially the younger generation - have put their foot down. It is not going to happen. They can't force people to live like they do in Saudi Arabia, either. It is now politically impossible in Turkey.

It is good for the Turkish Cypriots, as well, because the Turkish regime was starting to view their staunch secularism with great suspicion. That was one of the next targets.

[Jerry]

Thanks for taking the time to translate the Turkish press Tim, anything of interest in the Turkish Cypriot press we should know about?

I read elsewhere that pre Erdo only 2 mosques were built in the "trnc" but in the last ten years they have put up 30, hopefully one day the TCs will get fed up with enforced islamification.

[Tim Drayton]

Thanks for taking the time to translate the Turkish press Tim, anything of interest in the Turkish Cypriot press we should know about?

I read elsewhere that pre Erdo only 2 mosques were built in the "trnc" but in the last ten years they have put up 30, hopefully one day the TCs will get fed up with enforced islamification.

Turkish Cypriot press? Good heavens, I had forgotten all about that (only half joking!). What with a heavy work load and so much going on in Turkey, I haven't had time to look at the TC papers for days. Thanks for asking, anyhow.

[bill cobbett]

Bahceli covers the reaction in the Occupied Areas in an article entitled "Waiting it out on the sidelines" in the Snail at...

http://cyprus-mail.com/waiting-it-out-on-the-sidelines/

Headline pretty much sums things up... in the main, sitting on the fence in the Occupied Areas, to see how things pan out.

[Kikapu]

Basically, what Erdogan wants to do with the Presidential system if it should get that far, just as it happens in other undemocratic Muslim countries, is the have the Erdogan family Dynasty rule Turkey for the next few hundred years . This is where he wants to take Turkey.

I think you are right, and at the very last minute the Turkish people - especially the younger generation - have put their foot down. It is not going to happen. They can't force people to live like they do in Saudi Arabia, either. It is now politically impossible in Turkey.

It is good for the Turkish Cypriots, as well, because the Turkish regime was starting to view their staunch secularism with great suspicion. That was one of the next targets.

Hey, Erdogan already called us TCs as being "kept Parasites"!

But some TCs here on the forum still believe in Erdogan.

Bloody fools.