http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/1ffo2c/the_islamist_government_of_turkey_is_about_to/

This is pretty crazy shit, sounds like alot of people could be getting killed wounded, as usually happens with revolutions

5/31/2013 10:10:50 PM

any country where there are huge numbers (percentage-wise) of hardcore secularists and/or atheists and huge numbers of hardcore religionists AND the country has a form of government other than a true democracy where freedoms of speech and thought are protected, is headed towards chaos. it is up to the rules of such countries to decide whether to transition to peacefully or violently.

there are many such countries in asia (nearly all are muslim countries), and many more will reach that stage in the near future.

as for the turkish riots of today, it started off because the gov wants to demolish a park and build a shopping mall there.

WTF is wrong with so many governments, cultures, and peoples worldwide who would rather see glass, concrete, and glitz than foliage and nature? That is the ultimate cruelty to humanity and the planet. FUCK THEM.

5/31/2013 10:19:23 PM

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2013/05/2013531112443894367.html

Quote :

"Last week, the government enacted a law restricting the sale and advertising of alcohol which has alarmed secular Turks who fear an encroachment on more liberal lifestyles."

That'll fucking do it.

5/31/2013 10:26:57 PM

Turkey will not fall. This is a NATO government. There is nobody to aid the rebels if there even was an organized rebellion. This shit will be like occupy usa. Doesn't mean the government will fall.

6/1/2013 2:47:54 AM

of course it won't fall now... but one day it will, several years to a couple of decades from now, assuming the government continues in the same way.

p.s. riots/demos had a couple of hundred people yesterday in one square, 40,000 today in many areas all over istanbul, with seriously violent riots.


[Edited on June 1, 2013 at 4:49 AM. Reason : ]

6/1/2013 4:48:18 AM

They just want the name changed back to Constantinople.

6/1/2013 6:48:26 AM

why they changed it i cant say

6/1/2013 1:52:36 PM

People just liked it better that way?

Quote :

"WTF is wrong with so many governments, cultures, and peoples worldwide who would rather see glass, concrete, and glitz than foliage and nature? That is the ultimate cruelty to humanity and the planet. FUCK THEM. "

Was this a subtle reference to the Dix Park?

6/1/2013 2:43:11 PM

Fuck Constantinople. Bring back Byzantium.

6/1/2013 3:10:02 PM

^^ no references to anything. i don't even know "Dix Park". time to google....

6/1/2013 5:29:33 PM

agent oranged

6/1/2013 5:30:45 PM

Quote :

"of course it won't fall now... but one day it will, several years to a couple of decades from now, assuming the government continues in the same way."

Well the same can be said about the U.S. and any other capitalist nation. Capitalism (in its current form) is an unsustainable pyramid scheme that relies on exploiting the planet and less fortunate for resources. When the number of potential exploiters starts to outnumber the number of potential exploited, the entire system will crumble. Europe and to some degree Europe have figured out how to delay this process through socialism.

People continue to realize that theres a difference between "anyone" and "everyone"

[Edited on June 1, 2013 at 6:24 PM. Reason : Capitalism promises that anyone can make it but Everyone can't be members of the 5%]

6/1/2013 6:22:57 PM

All governments are unsustainable. Any system where the few hold a gun to the head of the many is destined for collapse, it's just a matter of time.

It's not corporations or businesses murdering people in the street, it's the government. But, hey, at least we have roads and schools.

[Edited on June 1, 2013 at 8:30 PM. Reason : ]

6/1/2013 8:30:22 PM

Government is doing that to protect the corporations. Governments are in power to protect the corporations. Thats the whole purpose of laws and military.

The ideal government would represent the people.

6/1/2013 8:33:47 PM

There never has been and never will be that kind of government. It's like wishing that every mugger would give all of their loot to charity and poor old ladies. If they had good intentions, they wouldn't be doing what they're doing - trying to use force to get what they want.

6/1/2013 8:38:30 PM

the protests are because the government has become too influenced by fundamentalist islam recently. they are revolting because they want the democratic government back and the fundamentalists out, all the way up to the prime minister

i guarantee you nato would prefer these riots succeed.

[Edited on June 1, 2013 at 11:49 PM. Reason : .]

6/1/2013 11:37:58 PM

Quote :

"Government tyranny is impossible because government is us."

-Barack Obama

6/3/2013 11:56:00 AM

wait, so you're saying there's a connection between the protests and Barack Obama?

6/3/2013 12:04:33 PM

its crazy how this erupted from a few people wanting to save some trees

6/3/2013 12:05:03 PM

Quote :

"wait, so you're saying there's a connection between the protests and Barack Obama?"

Nope. Just a reminder of how ridiculous the notion "the government represents the people" is.

[Edited on June 3, 2013 at 12:12 PM. Reason : ]

6/3/2013 12:09:31 PM

Government does represent the people.

The problem is that people are dumb and selfish.

So you need people to think that government is representing them, when really gov. should represent only the smart people ideally.

6/3/2013 3:23:11 PM

Quote :

"Government does represent the people. The problem is that people are dumb and selfish."

The solution is so simple. We'll have the government provide compulsory education until the people aren't dumb and selfish anymore. Crazy that no one thought of this before.

6/3/2013 3:41:58 PM

The solution is simple. Move out to the middle of the wilderness or on a desert island where a government can't tread on you. It's crazy that you haven't thought of this before.

[Edited on June 3, 2013 at 4:10 PM. Reason : ]

6/3/2013 4:10:21 PM

Live in isolation, or have your skull crushed by the boot of the government. Tough call...

6/3/2013 4:12:47 PM

What's the actual likelihood of my head being crushed in by a government boot in my lifetime? I can't imagine it's very high.

I also wonder if that cop was actually stepping on that guy in that shot. I bet it just looks like that from the still. Though the guy swinging his gun looks pretty bad.

[Edited on June 3, 2013 at 4:17 PM. Reason : .]

6/3/2013 4:16:32 PM

Having been around the corner from Taksim Square when a suicide bomber blew up, I am glad to not be in Istanbul right now

6/3/2013 4:55:40 PM

the government backed down from the planned demolition of the park.

long live the people!

6/5/2013 3:34:03 AM

No one cares about the park. It's "death to the dictator" time now.

6/5/2013 7:58:18 AM

I think this is the NYT ad they ran

http://a.yfrog.com/img877/2511/26jq.png

Someone should post the plain text b/c I'm not reading that.

6/5/2013 8:54:57 AM

It's the NYT...no one is reading that.

6/5/2013 9:42:27 AM

^, ^^

huh? the ad is by the protesters, what does it have to do with the nyt? the text in the ad is very good, and has been written by the protesters.

6/5/2013 9:56:37 AM

Quote :

"what does it have to do with the nyt?"

The ad was ran in the New York Times.

My guess is that you knew this and were actually asking a deeper question that I don't understand. But you know, for all the noobs to this issue, keep it simple stupid.

6/5/2013 10:00:05 AM

If they don't convince the military to stage a coup now there will be hell to pay when "normalcy" returns and the police are free to extract their vengeance without media scrutiny.

6/5/2013 10:13:39 AM

There's not going to be a military intervention. The Erdogan government effectively decapitated the military leadership a couple of years back in an alleged plot by a cabal of senior officers to launch a coup in 2003. Not necessarily a bad thing either; the Turkish military's habit of overthrowing civilian governments it didn't like has not been beneficial to the human rights of Turkish citizens.

6/5/2013 2:16:39 PM

If the government doesn't step down, it seems like Turkey could possibly turn into Syria. That would be a huge deal because for some reason, the EU was stupid and thought it would be a good idea to bring them into the union.

6/5/2013 3:54:46 PM

I think Syria is a bit of a stretch. Things could start getting messy, but Turkey is much more unified and doesn't have the same crazy ethnic and sectarian divisions that are fueling the violence in their southern neighbor.

6/6/2013 2:58:38 PM

I think it mostly depends on how the government reacts.

6/6/2013 10:45:57 PM

Quote :

"I also wonder if that cop was actually stepping on that guy in that shot. I bet it just looks like that from the still. Though the guy swinging his gun looks pretty bad. "

Pic looks more like a post-kick than a pre-stomp

6/7/2013 12:19:39 AM

Pretty much a nationalist autocracy now.

If civil war breaks out and EU has major fighting on their borders and then you have millions of Syrian refugees and Turkish refugees streaming out of Trukey, what happens next?

Who does turkey ally with when rest of NATO steps in?

[Edited on April 16, 2017 at 8:38 PM. Reason : ]

4/16/2017 8:37:23 PM

Dude wants to fashion himself after "democratically elected" Arab rulers who stay in power 25-30 years until they die or are taken down by FUCK YEAH 'MERICA or by their own people.

See Saddam, Qaddafi, Mubarak, Saleh, Assad, etc.

4/16/2017 10:02:35 PM