NEWS SCAN for Turkey – June 6th, 2013
Down below you will find a summary of topics from major Turkish papers and internet sites.
PM Erdoğan links some protesters to those who attacked U.S. Embassy in Ankara
At a joint press conference with his counterpart in Taunisia Erdoğan said “The sensitivities of people for environmental issues have been abused. We have already expressed our sorrow for the excessive use of force”. Nevertheless, he expressed his dedication to finalizing the Artillery Barracks project to be built at Taksim which triggered recent incidents in Turkey.
On the other hand Erdoğan has not changed his stance on the street violence. He said those who caused damage as part of the Taksim Gezi Park protests were the same as those who staged the attack on the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, in which one security guard and one attacker were killed and a journalist was wounded.
Opinion leaders have commented that PM Erdoğan does not seem to be willing to back down on Gezi Park issue.
Supporters of Gezi Park protests attacked by crowd in Rize, homeland of Erdoğan
It is reported that supporters of protests over the demolition attempt of Istanbul’s Gezi Park were attacked by a crowd in Rize, homeland of Erdoğan for the first time since the beginning of the countrywide incidents.
A group of 25 to 30 members of the Turkish Youth Union (TGB) were staging a protest in support of the Taksim Gezi Park demonstrations when a crowd gathered and began to respond to their slogans. Tension peaked as members of the crowd started to violently attack the small group. After the police’s intervention, the small group took refuge inside a building as the larger crowd blocked a central avenue and started to chant slogans. The crowd attacked the TGB members again while they were being taken out of the building by the security officers. Police resorted to tear gas to prevent the protesters from attacking the group members. A woman was also injured during the incidents.
Luckily, a terrible undesired event was avoided after a tension of two hours thanks to the joint intervention of the town’s mayor, Halil Bakırcı, the deputy governor, and the local police chief.
Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) deputy ONDER calls on Istanbul governor to resign
ONDER who took active role since the beginning of Gezi Park events in Istanbul’s Taksim Square, met Istanbul Governorate civil service inspectors upon their request to provide information about police’s excessive use of force at Gezi Park protests.
Speaking to journalists following the meeting Onder said that he had received thousands of information, documents and pictures regarding the issue and he had shared them with the inspectors adding that Istanbul Governor Huseyin Avni Mutlu had to resign.
Bourse Istanbul goes down by 4,7 percent after one-day recovery
After PM Erdoğan preferred to make strong statements about Gezi Park protests late on Thursday when he was expected to soften his position on the protests, Bourse İstanbul went down by another 4,7 percent through the end of the afternoon session and hit 75.895, its lowest in more than two months.
As for exchange rates, TL lost value against the US dollar and the euro. One US dollar was traded at TL 1.89 and a euro at TL 2.48. Turkey’s benchmark two-year yield surged 28 basis points to 6.70 percent. Thursday also saw this week’s second-worst decline in markets after Monday’s more-than-10-percent loss.
06.06.2013
SOURCE: MEDIA
We do not verify above stories neither do we vouch for their accuracy.
