Special to WorldTribune.com

ANKARA — Turkey’s Islamist government has faced the greatest unrest
in its more than decade-long rule.

Tens of thousands of people have fought Turkish police and security
forces in 235 reported protests throughout the country in what has turned into a campaign to oust
Prime Minister Recep Erdogan.

Officials acknowledged that this marked the greatest challenge to the Islamist government since the victory of the ruling Justice and Development Party more than a decade ago.

“Our intelligence work is ongoing [to determine the foreign actors
behind the protests],” Erdogan told a news conference on June 3. “It is not
possible to reveal their names. But we will have meetings with their heads.”

The riots, which led to a plunge in the stock market, have rocked
Turkey’s four largest cities, including the capital Ankara. The Turkish
media, threatened by Erdogan, have played down the political aspects of the
demonstrations.

“This is a literally a civil movement,” Turkish opposition
parliamentarian Aylin Nazliaka, who attended the protests, said. “If Recep
Tayyip Erdogan had seen and talked to those in custody, he would understand
that a lot of people were not there under the guidance of a political party,
but as a part of an uprising movement against an authoritarian and
oppressive regime.”

The protests, conducted amid a sharp decline in Turkey’s economy, began
on May 31 when authorities uprooted trees at an Istanbul park as part of
plans to build a mosque. The demonstrations at Taksim Square first attracted
environmentalists and then tens of thousands of students in protest of the
Erdogan government and ruling Islamist party.

As reports of police brutality spread, protests erupted in other major
cities, including Adana and Izmir. Some of the demonstrators attacked
offices of Erdogan’s party. Officials said 160 officers were injured in
clashes with the demonstrators.

“Whatever happens, there is no going back,” a sign held by demonstrators
read.

So far, the Interior Ministry has reported 235 anti-government
demonstrations with more than 1,000 arrests and 1,000 injured. Police and
security forces fired tear gas canisters from helicopters as well as plastic
bullets, and two people were reportedly killed.

“But it can easily be said that the Taksim brinkmanship marked a turning
point in the almighty image of Erdogan,” Turkish Hurriyet newspaper said.

On June 4, a leading Turkish union, the Public Workers Union
Confederation, launched a two-day strike in support of the protests. The
union, which represents 240,000 members, said the strike marked a warning to
Erdogan.

Opposition sources said the protests represented brewing resentment
against Erdogan’s transformation of Turkey from a Western to an Islamist
state. They pointed to measures in 2013 that included official restrictions
on alcohol sales as well as kissing or embracing in public.

“The views that are well intentioned have been read, seen and noted and
the messages have been received,” Turkish President Abdullah Gul, who met
the opposition, said.

But the opposition has warned that Erdogan, who branded the protesters
terrorists, could follow other Middle East leaders and order the Justice and
Development Party to attack anti-government demonstrators. Opposition
parliamentarians said the ruling party was believed to control hundreds of
thousands of Muslims ready for street battles.

“It is not democracy when you say ‘I control of 50 percent of the
society, and I can send them out with sticks whenever I want to, and then
there will be fighting,'” Kemal Kilcdaroglu, head of the opposition
Republican People’s Party, said. “This is how dictators speak. He [Erdogan]
should call for common sense.”

  Abullah Gul, Aylin Nazliaka, Boiling point: Protesters resent Erdogan turning Turkey into Islamist state, Justice and Development Party, Republican People’s Party, Taksim Square, Turkey rocked by spreading popular protests against Islamization