Egyptian Pattern will be Repeated in Turkey

Protests in Turkey erupted on 31 May, after a violent crackdown on peaceful protesters who had occupied the historically significant Gezi Park to protest again the destruction of the Park and Taksim Square. The protesters compared the destruction of historical sites, which are representing the Turkish Revolution and the establishment of the Turkish Republic with a secular constitution, and plans to substitute the historical sites by building a shopping mall and by re-erecting military barracks from Turkey´s Ottoman period as direct affront against the constitution and as an attempt to re-write history.

Protests have continued on a daily basis ever since 31 May, and analysts expect that mass protests will reoccur in September during the last phases of the Ergenkon trial. Like the ousted Mohammed Morsi, R. Tayyip Erdogan uses democratic institutions in a soft-power and sneaking, but never the less de facto coup d´etat. Like Mohammed Morsi in Egypt, R. Tayyip Erdogan has to fear that the military ultimately will side with the people. The difference between Turkey and Egypt is, that the Erdogan administration has started its coup d´etat by weakening the military with the arrest of 600 officers. Whether his strategy will succeed or not  remains an open question which may be answered in September.

Source: NSNBC

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