Protests Escalate in Turkey with a Strike Announced

Popular protests against the policies of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the government of the Justice and Development Party escalated for the 5th successive day with the participation of tens of thousands of people amid a call by the Public Workers Unions Confederation (KESK) for a two-day “warning strike” on Tuesday to protest at the police’s crackdown on the peaceful protests.

The KESK, which includes 240,000 members, said in a statement to the AFP that it has decided to support the protest movement In Turkey with carrying out a two-day strike to express rejection of the terrorism practiced by Erdogan’s government against the peaceful protests in a way that is endangering the civilians.

Confrontations between the protesters who called for the government’s downfall and the Turkish police continued throughout the night and Tuesday morning during which the police used water cannons and tear gas grenades.

The Turkish security forces have suppressed the protests violently and fired tear gas against the demonstrators, killing a number of them, injuring hundreds and arresting thousands of others. Turkish Interior Minister indicated to the arrest of 1700 people in more than 67 cities across the country.

According to human rights organizations and doctors, two protesters were killed and more than 2000 others were injured, 1500 in Istanbul and 700 in Ankara, in the police’s crackdown on the protests which started last Friday after police tried to suppress a demonstration in Istanbul and quickly blew up into anti-government protests across the country.

One Killed in Anti-government Protests in Turkey 

A 22-year-old man died in a hospital of wounds he sustained on Monday during anti-government protests in southern Turkey, the NTV television reported Tuesday.

“Abdullah Comert was seriously wounded after gunfire from an unidentified person,” the TV said. Turkish Doctors’ Union said this is the second death after a car slammed into a crowd in Istanbul and hit a person on Sunday.

The Turkish Aksam newspaper claimed that Comert did not die of a gunshot but of wounds he sustained after being beaten in the head.

MP from the opposition Republican People’s Party, Hasan Akgol, however stressed in a phone call with a TV channel that the young man, who belongs to the Party’s youth organization, was killed by a gunshot.

The tense security situation has escalated throughout Turkey, with some Turkish newspapers stressing that a group of people, accompanying the police, attacked the protesters with iron rods in Izmir city, an incident that was confirmed by Izmir Syndicate’s chairperson.

The Turkish police fired rubber bullets last night on demonstrators in Kavachledary district in Ankara as dozens of tear gas canisters were fired to disperse protestors in Gumusoyo district on the European bank of Istanbul.

Tension also increased in the city of Antakya after the killing of Comert. The residents stressed that the policemen closed streets in the city before the funeral of Comert amid a wide popular protest.

Eyewitnesses from Antakya city said the police deliberately drove armored vehicles through the protesters, killing a 9 year old girl child and injuring many people.

The residents said the policemen attacked the citizens’ houses yesterday night accompanied by a youth group from the Justice and Development Party.

Erdogan’s Double Standards

Describing the demonstrators against his autocracy as ‘saboteurs’, Turkish Premier Erdogan contradicted himself and showed hypocrisy and double standard as he considered the demonstrations as an internal and external conspiracy.

In a joint press conference with his Moroccan counterpart Abdullah bin Kiran, Erdogan said that he continues supporting what he has called ” the popular movement in Syria” when the reality on the ground proves that there are armed terrorist takfiri groups in Syria backed and financed by his government, the Western and Gulf countries.

Erdogan repeated his allegations on the suppression and killing in Syria to evade his direct responsibilities of supporting terrorism in it which makes him a forthright partner in the crime of killing the Syrians.

Erdogan keeps on claiming that he urges all sides to be moderate, find a solution to the crisis and to utilize the international conference scheduled to be held on Syria.

Erdogan alleged that security was restored in Turkey, noting that “it will return to normal within a few days. “

Erdogan claimed that the situation in Syria continues to be worst, considering that the armed terrorist groups which are supported by his government retreated on the ground due to the continued strikes of the Syrian army.

Policemen Attacked Sol Newspaper Office Because of Objective Coverage of Anti-Government Protests 

Editor-in-chief of Turkish Sol newspaper, Can Soyer, said that Turkish policemen stormed into the newspaper office and tampered with its contents because of the coverage of the protests taking place in Turkey against the Justice and Development Government led by Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

In a statement to the Syrian TV on Monday, Soyer said that the Turkish mass media, including newspapers and television channels, which broadcast the truth to the people and oppose the policy of the Justice and Development Party are exposed to attacks and harassment by the policemen to foil them and inflict damage upon them.

Workers and journalists in these mass media also are exposed to direct insults.

Soyer said “We will continue to convey the truth in Turkey since we have principle, we are working in the press not for money but to convey the facts,”

He stressed that Turkey has been suffering censorship on the mass media, which has increased recently with the increasing government’s pressures.

Hundreds Demonstrate in New York in Solidarity with Protesters in Turkey 

About one hundred people demonstrated in front of the Turkish Consulate in New York chanting ” We Want Freedom ” and demanding Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to resign.

The demonstrators expressed their solidarity with the protesters in Turkey.

They raised photos of Erdogan accompanied by Nazi symbols, Turkish flags and banners calling ” Stop the Police Brutality”

Mass popular demonstrations broke out peacefully in protest against Erdogan’s authoritarian and exclusionary governmet amid accusation of the Turkish government of drifting toward authoritarianism and seeking to Islamize the country.