Turkey: from Taksim Square to Iskenderun

In Turkey, protests against the conservative policies of prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his AKP have escalated. Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets and at least three demonstrators have been killed in clashes with the police.

It’s likely that thousands of people have been injured, many of them seriously, by rubber bullets and vehicles used as battering rams by the police. Amnesty International has set up field hospitals and mosques and museums have opened their doors to take in injured protestors. The police, whose commander-in-chief is Erdoğan himself, have shown no mercy. Meanwhile the Turkish President Abdullah Gül continues to impose legislation curtailing citizens’ democratic rights.

Where will the protests lead? To what extent are they orchestrated and how much of the reports is rumor and hearsay? How strict is censorship in Turkey and how is it imposed? These are just some of the questions that will be addressed by the panel of experts.

With:

Bilgin Ayata, political scientist, Otto Suhr Institute, FU Berlin

Diğdem Soyaltin, a political scientist who has just returned from Istanbul

Devrimsel Deniz Nergiz, sociologist and activist

Recai Hallaç, author and translator

Orhan Esen, urban planner (via Skype from Istanbul)

and others

Moderation: Ingo Arend (taz)

Presented by Haus der Kulturen der Welt and