Turkish police under fire for excessive use of force

Press TV has conducted an interview with Barcin Yinanc, the associate editor for the Hurriyet Daily News from Istanbul.

Press TV: Many Turks are saying that Erdogan’s reaction to all of this has been very inconsiderate of the people’s demands and shows his arrogance especially with his comments that he made yesterday in basically calling the demonstrators looters – your take.

Yinanc: Well actually if the protests are continuing for the third or fourth consecutive day, I think the reason behind this persistence is the prime minister’s defiance, the prime minister’s attitude of looking down on people, the prime minister’s refusal to lend an ear to the people.

Actually, some of us, we think that he is misled by his advisors because from his statements I don’t think that he is having a proper read of what’s going on. For instance, today he continued to assert that the demonstrators are motivated and organized by the opposition party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP).

But that is not true because when you go to the streets and talk to the people there is absolutely no organic link with the opposition party.

On the contrary, people are on the streets not only because they are angry against the government, but because they are frustrated with the existing opposition parties.

They feel that the opposition parties are invalid, un-influential in expressing their views. That is why they have taken to the streets. They also are dissatisfied with the opposition parties.

So, the prime minister is unfortunately not having a healthy read of the situation, which further angers the protesters, which actually went to the streets for a very peaceful aim of just telling what their problem is with this government.

Press TV: Do you think that this will expand into something bigger or as our guest in Ankara said, it is just a natural reaction to some of Erdogan’s policies and basically it’s going to die down.

Yinanc: Well first of all, yes the demonstrators are calling for the government to resign. But, I don’t think they have any other slogans and they are also aware of the fact that the government is not going to resign. Because at the end of the day, what separates Turkey from the other countries of the Arab Spring – and that’s why personally I don’t like this comparison of Arab Spring – is that in Turkey although our democracy might not be perfect, we do have elections. So, people will show their real position during the elections, but as Professor Bagci (the other guest) has said, you don’t express your feelings each time on the ballot box, you have the right to express your views to the government, you don’t have to wait for the ballot box.

The problem is, people have felt very frustrated that for years this government has not taken their views their sensitivities, their feelings into account so there is a resentment and they wanted to show this resentment even before the elections.

Now it is difficult to predict with how long this will continue.

I think as long as the prime minister’s defiance continues we will continue to see people on the street, though let me underline that – I’ve been saying this a long time – these are people who have no experience of street fighting.

Most of them are there for the first time in their life, so at once they might get tired, etcetera. So, they don’t have this experience, the habit of being all the time on the street.

But what is for certain, it will have longer consequences – because of [the] prime minister, Turkey’s political youth has turned into activists. Before they were scared to go to the streets, now they learned that they can go to the streets. So this will have longer term consequences these youngsters will become much more activists and they will become much more interested with politics.

Press TV: I want to talk about the tear gas because what people are saying, our reports that we have on the ground, that this is poisonous tear gas, that there is Agent Orange in this tear gas. That several people have been blinded, a couple of people have been killed. Why would the government of Erdogan use this type of tear gas on his own people?

Yinanc: Well first of all let me clarify some of the information. Oh! Shall I continue?

Press TV: Please, go ahead.

Yinanc: Yes, first of all let me clarify some of the information. Now, because of the blackout in the Turkish mainstream media, obviously a lot of people have been relying on Twitters, Facebook; on the social media. And the good thing about the social media is that you can get some information, but the bad thing is that you can get the wrong information as well.

So, nowadays in the social media we have a list of news that says the big lies also about what’s going on because all the time there are these news coming, [saying] this is that etcetera, etcetera.

Now first of all to my understanding, there is only one person that has been confirmed to be killed. The second, I don’t think that there is any evidence that orange gas has been used. Again, this is one of the issues where I think this has been going on mistakenly.

I believe pepper gas and tear gas is used and honestly I have been in the midst of the demonstrations. I have been subjected to that gas, it does leave you – if you are not properly covered up – it leaves you, [for] three or four minutes, you are very much in pain as far as your eyes are concerned. But obviously I am not an expert [on] whether this will have long-term health consequences.

But at the end of the day, these are street fights and the police, as it is the case everywhere in the world in Europe or in the Middle East, the police are obviously equipped with the means in order to stop demonstrations.

The point here is the fact that they have been using [force] excessively. Looking from their point of view, if they want to, let’s say, protect the building of the prime ministry they could [have] shot some warning shots.

But there has been an excessive use of gas. That is why the Turkish police and security forces are under criticism for excessive use of force – disproportionate reaction to… peaceful demonstrations, because I wasn’t in the front lines, but the crowds the majority of the crowds, 99 percent of the crowds, they’re really nonviolent, they carry nothing. And when I did street interviews they told me we have nothing. We are just going there for peaceful demonstrations.

Press TV: Do you think that Erdogan’s government has lost its legitimacy or not?

Yinanc: No, I don’t think Erdogan’s government has not lost legitimacy and as I said, I have to repeat, the people who have gone on the street, they are not expecting the government to resign. What they are saying – they find the government legitimate – on the contrary, what they are saying is that we are the people who haven’t voted for this government. Alright, but that doesn’t mean that our views should not be taken into consideration.