Turkey

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Turkish crackdown on protesters 'wrong and unjust', says deputy PM

Bulent Arinç, standing in for absent prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, offers to meet protest's leaders in bid to ease tensions

the Guardian,

4 June, 2013

Turkey's deputy prime minister has offered a partial apology for the vicious police crackdown on protesters in Istanbul, in an apparent attempt to cool tensions after nine days of anti-government rallies across Turkey.

Bülent Arinç, who is standing in for Turkey's absent prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said the violence meted out last week to peaceful protesters was "wrong and unjust". He also offered to meet leaders of the original movement, which began in an effort to save an Istanbul park from redevelopment.

But it was unclear if Arinç's conciliatory remarks had the blessing of Erdogan, who has previously dismissed the protesters as "looters" and fringe extremists. Erdogan is on a visit to Morocco. His abrasive response has infuriated secular middle-class Turks, who have taken to the streets to oppose him in unprecedented numbers, with protests spreading rapidly across the country.

For the first time, the protesters also offered to abandon their occupation of Gezi park and the nearby Taksim Square in Istanbul, the focal point of a broad-based anti-Erdogan movement. They issued a list of demands. These included the prompt release of hundreds of people arrested in the turmoil of the past week, an end to park development and the resignation of officials who abused their positions by giving orders that resulted in injuries.

On Tuesday, thousands more demonstrators packed into the square, gathering under the trees and around a statue of Turkey's secular founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, now decorated with banners. The authorities had vacated the area, leaving barricades and piles of rubble in place.

"We are sending Erdogan a message. The message is: 'You are not a king in this country. We are the kings here'," said Murat Özerden, an Istanbul businessman.

There were some signs that the violence of the past five days, driven by over-the-top policing, could be abating.

Istanbul's police chief said his forces would only use teargas as a last resort. Beskitas football supporters, who have figured in previous clashes near the prime minister's office, added that they would march peacefully to the square.

The protesters are aggrieved by what they perceive as Erdogan's authoritarian tendencies and his attempts to impose a more Islamic lifestyle on all citizens. He has recently passed a law to restrict alcohol consumption. Others are upset by his pro-rebel foreign policy towards Syria, and his warm relations with the US, Turkey's strategic ally.

There is much at stake in the standoff, which represents the biggest challenge to Erdogan in a decade. "Whether this drama ends with a compromise or further escalation will likely define the next decade of Turkish politics, which faces a cycle of municipal, presidential and parliamentary elections over the next two years," the International Crisis Group said in an analysis.

One prominent critic said Erdogan was personally to blame for the unrest. Selahattin Demirtas, a member of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy party (BDP), said: "The reason for these protests are not foreign or domestic forces, but the result of only trying to satisfy one half of the country and ignoring the other half."

He added: "The person who lit the spark that set the whole country aflame was the prime minister."

The main public-sector union federation, KESK, which represents 240,000 members, began a two-day strike on Tuesday in support of the protesters, while a second group, the Turkish Revolutionary Workers' Union Confederation, said its members would also stage a walkout on Wednesday.

Speaking on Tuesday, Arinç conceded that the original police decision to storm a camp of eco-activists on Friday was a mistake. "I apologise to those citizens," he said. He said Turkey's government was sensitive to the demands of the country's secular urban classes, most of whom had not voted for Erdogan's Islamist-rooted Justice and Development party (AKP). "I would like to express this in all sincerity: everyone's lifestyle is important to us and we are sensitive to them," he declared.

Arinç spoke after a meeting with President Abdullah Gül. In contrast to Erdogan, Gül has sought to mediate with the protesters, and has skilfully praised them for expressing their democratic rights. Since the crisis began he has emerged as a leading moderate, and could face Erdogan next year in a presidential election.

There have been several deaths at the protests, including that of a 22-year-old man shot on Monday in the city of Antakya. Prosecutors later said the man had died from a blow to the head. The Foreign Office on Tuesdayurged British nationals to avoid demonstrations in Turkish cities, and warned that "further violent protests remain possible".

A human rights group, Turkish Human Rights Association, has said some 1,000 protesters have been subjected to "ill-treatment and torture". The UN human rights office in Geneva has expressed concern about the excessive use of force by police and called on Turkey to respect the right to peaceful protest and to promptly investigate abuses and bring perpetrators to justice. It also called on protesters to remain peaceful.

The Turkish Human Rights Association said some 3,300 people nationwide were detained during four days of protests, although most have since been released. At least 1,300 people were injured, the group said, although it said accurate figures were difficult to come by.

Turkey imported 628 tons of teargas and pepper spray in 12 years – report

Turkey has bought $21 million in tear gas and pepper spray – mainly from US and Brazil – over the past 12 years, Turkish media reported. The US is known for its exports of crowd control munitions to countries rocked by widespread protest.

RT

4 June, 2013

In total, Turkey imported 628 tons of tear gas and pepper spray between 2000 and 2012, Turkish newspaper Sozcu reported quoting Customs and Trade Minister Hayati Yazici.

Turkey is currently being rocked by its biggest wave of anti-government protests in years. At least two people have been killed and thousands injured from clashes with police since the protests began on Friday. Videos and images have emerged on social media showing police in riot gear firing tear gas, using pepper spray and physically beating demonstrators.

Ankara has been criticized for its mass crackdown on the protests and its widespread use of tear gas and pepper spray to disperse demonstrators.

On Tuesday, the UN's human rights office urged Turkey to conduct an independent probe into how its security forces have treated the anti-government protesters. "We're concerned about reports of excessive use of force by law enforcement officers against protestors in Turkey," UN high commissioner for human rights spokesperson Cecile Pouilly said.

Opposition Nationalist Movement Party [MHP] leader Devlet Bahceli condemned the police’s excessive use of tear gas: “Yes it is true that the [ruling Justice and Development Party] AKP has established gas chambers similar to the Nazis, it is true that the AKP pokes its nose into everybody’s private lives,” Bahceli told his party members in Parliament.

Protestor clash with Turkish riot police using water cannons between Taksim and Besiktas in Istanbul on June 3, 2013 during a demonstration against the demolition of the park (AFP Photo / Bulent Kilic)

Human Rights Watch urged Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s government to “end police violence and excessive use of force against protesters across Turkey,” the group said in a statement published on its website.

“The police’s record on abusive policing has been surpassed as they use tear gas and water cannon fire against peaceful demonstrators,” said Emma Sinclair-Webb, senior Turkey researcher at Human Rights Watch.

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc apologized on Tuesday for the initial treatment of the protesters at the planned demolition of Taksim Gezi Park to build a mall. He said that the police’s actions were wrong, and said that security forces have been ordered not to use tear gas except in cases of self-defense.

"The excessive violence that was used in the first instance against those who were behaving with respect for the environment is wrong and unfair. I apologize to those citizens," Arinc said at a news conference.

However, Prime Minister Erdogan has referred to the protests as the work of secular enemies who have failed to come to terms to the electoral win of his own AK Party.

Turkish riot police officer fires tear gas during clashes with protestors between Taksim and Besiktas in Istanbul on June 3, 2013 during a demonstration against the demolition of the park (AFP Photo / Bulent Kilic)

US a major dealer of crowd control munitions

The US has a history of selling tear gas and other crowd control munitions to countries wracked by widespread protest. Amnesty International harshly criticized the US State Department for approving export licenses for the shipment of crowd control munitions and tear gas to Egypt amidst the violent and often lethal crackdowns on protesters by security forces in 2011.

Amnesty confirmed that one US companies had shipped 21 tons of ammunition to Egypt – enough for 40,000 rounds of tear gas grenades and canisters – in addition to a separate shipment of 17.9 tons.

In 2013 alone, Egypt's Interior Ministry ordered 140,000 teargas canisters from US, amounting to nearly $2.5 million. Egypt's opposition has said the purchase recalls the rule of ousted dictator Hosni Mubarak.