The Square people, Part 2
...Ditto in Turkey. A spontaneous movement emerged to resist Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's attempt to install a mall in the only green space near Istanbul's central Taksim Square, but it quickly mushroomed into protests against his autocratic rule. Erdogan went berserk. He had created a two-party universe that included only himself and the official Turkish opposition parties and TV stations, which he had totally cowed, tamed and neutered. So Turkey's Square People created a new opposition, and, through Twitter and YouTube, their own TV network.
But Erdogan has managed to outmaneuver his Square People with repeated election victories. How? A report in Forbes.com Friday gives one answer. Most of Erdogan's largely rural voting base is not on YouTube or Twitter. "Television news channels show only the damage and virulence of protest, a selection of images that ultimately give the impression of anarchy loosed upon the country by rabid troublemakers."
More:Friedman: The Square people, Part 2 - Houston Chronicle
