Turkey - Banging Pots and Hooting Horns!

A slow but growing force of pot banging, hooting horns and protests is spreading around Turkey like wildfire. Over the past few days now there has been anger, emotional outbursts, famous supporters, government denial of any wrongdoing and a failure to apologise. Turkey at times has seemed anarchic and not the usual level headedness I have seen from Turks. But to be silent at this time is probably not the right thing to do. To sit idly by whilst their government slowly chips away at their civil liberties is not really an option.

It is only recently that I heard on the news there was a kissing ban, then a ban on alcohol sales (at certain times) and then plans to rip up a perfectly serene park where excessive force was used to try to remove those at the sit in. If there is anything that the government of Turkey needs to learn from all of this is perhaps that heavy handed tactics do not work and do indeed fan the flames of fire in the hearts of the people that were recently said to not really matter. What most citizens of most countries around the world do not realise is that once their governments start forgetting about a large portion of their own population, this begins a downward spiral where they can just walk over the people.

So, where is Turkey at and how long will this last, the protests, the pot banging, the hooting of horns. All of these are unknowns but with the Başbakan out of the country in Tunisia it seems like he has no interest in the protesters whatsoever. The biber gaz (pepper spray) that was liberally used to spray in the faces of unwitting peaceful protesters in Istanbul and other places has increased the tensions so much so that the anarchy and the destruction that ensued was inevitable. The government concentrated on the fact that this movement is a minority and that this movement is damaging property. This movement may not end up being a minority and could grow to be a majority. He is right about the damaging of property but this is out of frustration, the government is in power for all of the people but it seems like it is only representing some of the population, which can turn people into a different type of people who wouldn't necessarily damage council and state property but do to make a statement.

As of 9.00 p.m. the pots, pans and horns were all sounding off, tomorrow will be the same, the day after I do not know, but at the time of writing there is a movement and they need to be listened to because a country is defined by it's population and the population is 100% of the population. All people, all religions, all walks of life. They need their voice.

Gezi Park protests still continue as do many protests in many other locations around Turkey.