"Dear international friends : For those of you who care about what is going on in Turkey, I would like to give a brief update, as the shit truly hit the fan today.
Things had calmed down somewhat during the past week after the original wave of violence at the start of the Turkish protest movement. The government had realized that the protesters had popular support, and they could not openly attack them as long as the protests remained peaceful. So they hoped and waited for any sign of violence from the protesters. There was none.
So the government decided to *fabricate* some. This morning, a group of civilian clothed men started throwing explosives at police forces - something that the protesters had never done. Interestingly, the police who had not before hesitated to use extreme violence against unarmed protesters suddenly became as effective as storm troopers in hitting anything with their water cannons. More interestingly, the men throwing the explosives were photographed as wearing gas masks that were police issued, carried concealed police pistols, and many of them had walkie-talkies on them. They were almost without a doubt members of secret police whose actions were used as an excuse for the police to start becoming violent again. So those water cannons that failed to hit a few provocateurs were turned back towards the peaceful protesters with surprising marksmanship.
I want to emphasize this extremely important fact. The protesters are *NOT* violent. The police *are*. Some of my closest friends are out there among the protesters. I am getting first hand information, pictures, reports of shameful acts and unbelievable cruelty by those who are being paid from taxpayer money to protect and to serve.
But wait, there is MORE. While all this was happening, in a move that would put Michael Corleone to shame, a team of police in riot gear entered a major courthouse complex which is in an entirely different part of town and has *nothing* to do with the protests. They proceeded to arrest over seventy attorneys - to my knowledge without ever bothering to declare an official reason. Of course, the real reason is that these attorneys have been representing (pro-bono) protesters who had been detained in the past couple of weeks. I want to make this very clear - these are lawyers basically going about their business in a courthouse complex that were arrested in the middle of the day for no official reason that could hold water.
*Also* at the same time, the ruling party in parliament struck down a proposition to begin an inquiry into excessive use of chemical weapons against unarmed people during the past few weeks.
While all this is going on, Turkish media is not only silent, they are complicit. They are being pressured to back up the government's outright lies that the protesters are using violence against the police. It has gone beyond disinformation, government officials as well media channels under their control are lying through their teeth without the least bit of shame. Fortunately, today international news organizations have started to realize that news agencies from within Turkey can no longer be trusted, and have started sending reporters from their own staff to Istanbul. Just to give you an idea of how completely the media is being dominated by the Turkish government, let me say that my friends have been following what is going on a few blocks from where they live on international news channels. One of CNN International's reporters has actually witnessed the violence first-hand as he was tear-gassed and kicked by police officers.
To sum up:
- The Turkish prime minister has completely given up any pretense of being a democratic leader.
- The government forces are at war with their own people, or rather those who see through their lies and do not vote for them. Whereas the people who did vote for them are being effectively kept in the dark and they are made to believe that the police are protecting them from the radical protesters.
- Disinformation, nay, straight-out lies are rampant.
- Violence by the police is unchecked, in fact it is targeted.
- If you know anyone in the media, please tell them to approach any statement from a Turkish government official with extreme suspicion.
- The government has apparently made a decision at some point that it will not yield to reason, at any cost. The cost may very well become the lives of a large number of innocent people who are either brutalized directly, or thrown into jail on bogus charges.
- Brave citizens of Turkey are standing up to bullies in power. If anyone tells you otherwise, it should take only a few questions to expose the inconsistencies in their fabricated stories."
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