Saturday, May 24, 2014

Turkish Dissident Journalist: “Erdogan Behaves Like a Sultan” | Foreign Policy Blogs

Turkish Dissident Journalist: “Erdogan Behaves Like a Sultan”

Turkey
by Rachel Avraham | on May 23rd, 2014 | 0 comments

Recently, over 300 Turkish citizens were killed after a mine exploded and caught on fire. In the wake of this disaster, there have been massive protests in Turkey calling upon Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to resign. They view him to be personally responsible for the disaster. As a result, Erdogan’s government has begun to clamp down more on dissent.

A Der Spiegel journalist received death threats and was forced to flee Turkey due to his critical coverage of the Soma disaster. A 15-year-old girl was punched in the face for referring to Erdogan as “her father’s murderer.” Another man was called “sperm of Israel” and hit personally by the Turkish Prime Minister. One of Erdogan’s advisers was caught on video kicking a demonstrator in the stomach. The police chased after protesters in the narrow streets of Dani, Istanbul, and Okmey. A man not connected to the protests was even shot and killed, the BBC reported.

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