Lessons from Turkey

GEORGETOWN, Guyana - What began on May 28 as a protest against the planned redevelopment of a park in Istanbul, to accommodate the construction of a replica Ottoman-era barracks and a mosque, has snowballed into a national political crisis for Turkey’s Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and his Islamist-leaning Justice and Development Party (known by its Turkish acronym, AKP). But, with at least five deaths and thousands injured and imprisoned, Mr Erdogan does not seem to be dealing with the crisis very well. After a small group of protesters occupied Gezi Park in Taksim Square, the prime minister resorted to harsh language – dismissing them variously as “miscreants,” “extremists,” “looters” and “terrorists” – and heavy-handed action a few days later, sending in riot police with tear gas, water cannon and bulldozers to clear the square. This merely served to spark more protests in cities across the country, with more clashes between protesters and police and calls for the prime minister’s resignation.