Turkey Protests Grow in Intensity As People Fight Erdogan Autocracy [PHOTO HIGHLIGHTS]
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has spent the last decade sitting unchallenged as Turkey's Prime Minister. He established himself as the vengeful but righteous father of the country. It seems like for every ruler in history, a measure of their success and power comes down to a rebellion.
Protesters are shaking up Istanbul and other cities across Turkey.
Erdogan has no problems assembling a group of neo-Islamist, agrarian and urban working-class Islamist voter coalition. He did so for three consecutive elections. However, his victories did not sit well with the people. His alleged oppressive rule is bringing people together.
The middle class secularists, old-school Kemalists and assorted pro-western intelligentsia are all up against the autocracy. Even the Kurdish minority and rightwing nationalists are fighting alongside each other to overthrow Turkey's current prime minister.
Erdogan is not looking forward to any compromise nor is he amendable to conceding. He called for an end to the demonstrations instead.
"If this is about holding meetings, if this is a social movement, where they gather 20, I will get up and gather 200,000 people. Where they gather 100,000, I will bring together 1 million from my party," the prime minister said.
The protest began when a park in Taksim Square was placed under redevelopment. The prime minister says extremists are using the protests as an excuse to overthrow the government. Erdogan also noted how the Republican People's party (CHP) is capitalizing on such.
"The prime minister is more and more authoritarian, unfortunately," said Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of CHP.
"The sovereignty of fear is ubiquitous. No one can talk with ease on the telephone. Civil society is under pressure." He added.