Erdogan is still calling the protesters vandals, and talking about an 'interest rate lobby' which is apparently making the stock markets crash (they fall by 5% everytime he speaks) and making the foreign press oppose him. He also said 17 people died in occupy wall street due to police violence and that everyone who drinks alcohol is an alcoholic, except for those who vote for him. Imagine having this guy rule your country with absolute power.
Regadless, he has enough seats in the parliament to keep his government and if there was an election he would probably get over 40% and stay in power. Why? Several reasons. Firstly, he has complete control on the media & the courts, so many people who have written against him are either fired or in jail and the rest are too scared (For the first few days of the protests, the main TV channels were showing documentaries about penguins and pretending like nothing happened. The one channel which aired the protests already received a warning from the TV authority for 'insulting the prime minister'. They will probably have their licence revoked, he has already threatened them in his speeches.) Secondly, many people are dumb enough to buy into his rhetoric of foreign plots & terrorists. It also helps that he gives a lot of handouts (coal for heating, furniture, cash, free meals, etc) just for joining his rallies & voting for him. I am not talking about social security, I am talking about using public tax revenues to give party handouts. Third, the opposition is horribly disorganized.
In a sense, the protests are more about freedom than democracy. Sure, whatever the reason, a large part of the population supports him - but that should not give him the right to dictate and micromanage what people eat, drink, or smoke, which statue is destroyed (a few years ago he called a statue of peace a monstrosity, it was destroyed in a few days), which public building gets replaced, what the media prints and who has the right to protest (see parenthesis at the bottom) and who goes in jail through show trials (An example is explained here: http://rodrik.typepad.com/dani_rodriks_weblog/2013/01/turkish-court-provides-lack-of-reasoning-behind-sledgehammer-verdict.html Turkey also has more journalists in jail than China or Iran.) and so it goes on. We do not want to elect a dictator every 5 years and then do as he says - this is the difference between a functioning democracy and tyranny of the majority.
I am glad that the protesters have no leader or common cause - His threats, incursions into private life and his perversion of democracy and the legal system have united a population which has always been so fractious. This goes to show you how upset people are. They do not even want the regime to fall - they just want him to stop being a prick. They want to be able to protest without being gassed and beaten to near death by a police force that behaves more like an invading army (worse in some respects - they even attack doctors who are giving medical treatment and gas ambulances). They want to be able to tweet whatever they want without being arrested. They want their taxes to be spent for the good of the public rather than to bribe voters & to buy tear gas and armoured vehicles which are only used to oppress them. I could go on forever..
(at the moment only his supporters do - while the protesters were gathering, the municipality, shut down the subway and anyone on the streets was attacked by the police. People who tweeted that they are going to protest have been arrested for 'inciting to riot'. Then last night Erdogan held a 'spontaneous rally' outside the airport at 3 am when he arrived - So spontaneous that his party sent texts to its members telling them to go, bussed people there, and the subway stayed open until the morning even though it shuts down at 12 usually. No police intervention or arrests, of course, even though they chanted 'let us go to taksim and destroy them').
Where has the Mediterranean Gone?
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