The silence is predictable in a nation that muzzles free expression, but where are the rest of world’s reporters?

In early September, students from Middle East Technical University (METU) set up camp to block construction of a 8-lane highway planned to cut through their campus. Local residents and others from wider Ankara are supporting protestors by providing food and supplies. The photo above shows a camp banner declaring, “Don’t touch my neighborhood”.

METU is Turkey’s leading technical university with100 undergraduate programs including architecture, engineering and arts and sciences.  It’s been a dissident stronghold since its founding in 1956, and continues to attract a heavily politicized student body.

Protesters including students, faculty members and experts from the Chamber of Architects claim the road project lacks necessary permissions, runs counter to accepted urban planning guidelines, and will not relieve area traffic as claimed by Mayor Melih Gökçek.

The METU campus is a protected area and is home to the capitol’s only forest. Protesters point out that several shopping malls have already sprung up along the new highway route, indicating that the project is less about regional transport and more about commercial development.

The mayor has a history of environmental disregard: his previous efforts to demolish university buildings were defeated in court. He also tried to expropriate a lake within the university grounds, but this was also defeated.

Green Prophet’s reported on similar attempts to usurp public green space in Beirut’s Jesuit Garden and in Istanbul’s Gezi Park.

The message is clear to those seeking to destroy public parkland – keep off our grass.

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Erdogan reportedly has said that the protesters are “extremists running wild” but if you look at the images of the people in the protest they hardly look like extremists – just every day young people looking for some change.

By yesterday the protests started becoming violent as demonstrators clashed with police. One witness on the ground wrote to Green Prophet telling us that Facebook and Twitter resources in Turkey have been shut down.

Police have been using tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowds, and more recently the police have started withdrawing as the protests grow in other Turkish cities.

There was a pretty impressive image of protesters marching from the east to the west side of Istanbul over the Bosphorus river.

Erdogan has called for an end to the protests and he promised he would push ahead for development in Taksim Square.

Young people in Turkey are protesting what they say is an increasingly authoritarian Islamic regime.

Some joined the protests in cities like Ankara to protest a new law restricting the sale of alcohol. Islam prohibits alcohol consumption, a tradition not followed by secularists.

Thousands are expected to be injured, including six who lost eyes, according to the Turkish Doctors’ Association. Some reports are saying that one woman died, but we have failed to find a confirmation on mainstream media sites.

We laud young people who demonstrate for the environment. Let’s hope that some of this brutality we are seeing now in Turkey will lead to some positive change.

For background, read these stories on Green Prophet to learn more about Taksim Square and what the original demonstrators are fighting against:

Controversial Renovation on Istanbul’s Taksim Square has Begun

Istanbul’s Taksim Square To Become Lifeless And Isolated In New Urban Plan, Opponents Warn

Above image of protestors on bridge via OccupyGezi

The post Turkey’s Environment Protest Swings to General Protest Against PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan appeared first on Green Prophet.

A rather innocent stand for nature took a dramatic turn when police attacked the park protestors with pepper spray and destroyed their tents during the early hours of the morning on May 30, 2013.

Now, tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets in cities across Turkey – from Ankara to Izmir – despite a violent government crackdown.

“Police are throwing gas bombs from helicopters,” a Turkish designer told us on condition of anonymity.

“Artists are on the street too,” he said. “They are surrounded by police; they are under attack; hotels are accepting people, giving free rooms and doctors are on the street.”

Local media report that their own staff have been injured by tear gas canisters. Others on the street have suffered broken bones and serious head injuries.

Amnesty International has condemned the violent response to nonviolent civil disobedience.

“Amnesty International calls on the authorities to carry out a prompt, independent and impartial investigation into the allegations of excessive and unnecessary use of force, and ensure that any law enforcement officials responsible for arbitrary or abusive use of force to be prosecuted,” the group said in a statement.

“Amnesty International also calls on the authorities to ensure protestors’ rights of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression.”

On Monday, construction to build a new mega shopping complex began in Gezi Park, prompting protestors to set up an Occupy-styled tent protest.

Mashallah News reports that just 1.5 percent of Istanbul is dedicated to green space.

Meanwhile, the government has launched an ambitious campaign to “grow” the city with a slew of development projects despite widespread opposition to the further concretization of a once-vibrant city.

Turkey was largely shielded from the Arab Spring uprisings, but now the people are pushing back.

“People are fighting for nature,” a source told us. “Unbelievable.”

“We do not have a government, we have Tayyip Erdogan,” political scientist and protester Koray Caliskan told the Reuters news agency.

“They are not listening to us,” he added. “This is the beginning of a summer of discontent.”

For background, read these stories on Green Prophet to learn more about Taksim Square and what the original demonstrators are fighting against:

Controversial Renovation on Istanbul’s Taksim Square has Begun

Istanbul’s Taksim Square To Become Lifeless And Isolated In New Urban Plan, Opponents Warn

Lead image via picadambaattin, Twitter. For more great, and sometimes disturbing images, follow #occupygezi on Tumblr

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