Tuesday 4 June 2013

Wrong Mask For Turkish Protesters

It started with a protest against the destruction of a park in Istanbul in order to build a shopping centre but has spread out to become a protest against the Turkish Government and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in particular.
Although there are a lot of factors in it, one of the reasons the Turks are rioting is the increasingly authoritarian stance of Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) in trying to impose conservative Islamic values on the secular country.
Last week the government passed legislation curbing the advertising and selling of alcoholic drinks and have introduced rules against display of affection in public.
Five days of rioting have seen more than 1,700 people arrested in 67 Turkish towns and cities and at least one death.
Strange then that many of the protesters who are angry at the Government imposing religion on them are wearing the Guy Fawkes masks that all the best dressed protesters are wearing these days.
A glance at any history book would show that Guy Fawkes was a religious zealot funded by other religious zealots who wanted to blow up Parliament to usher in a monarchy that would impose strict religious values on the population. 
Might want to rethink that Guy Fawkes as hero symbolism thing Turkey protesters unless you are making a statement that Catholic religious tyranny is preferable to the Islamic flavour.

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