Occupy Turkey!

A dear friend has been keeping me posted on the latest developments in and around Gesi Park in Istanbul, and today the news has been horrific. The government and the media staged a 'violent' protest between 30 people at hundreds of police, to create the impression that the protestors at the park are a violent mob. This could not be further from the truth, and the 'occupygesi' activists have held on to the great principles of non-violence used by the occupy movements throughout the world.

Prime Minister Erdogan is desperate to portray those trying to resist neo-liberal Islamism as terrorists and foreign 'infiltrators', an obvious lie to those in the country, but a lie foreign media is often happy to perpetuate.

Worse still today, was the arrest of over 50 lawyers who were defending the rights of the activists, another flagrant abuse of power by the government.

Erdogan's government is fast losing it's credibility with its own people. The lurch to the right, exemplified by the attempt to commercialise one of Istanbul's remaining 'people's green space, has forced ordinary people to take to the streets. As the G8 meets, its leaders need to withdraw support from the Turkish Prime Minister while he needlessly drags his country into a horrific period of civil unrest.

Long may the progressive forces in Turkey survive! Show your solidarity outside the Turkish Embassy!