{"id":179471,"date":"2018-01-28T21:35:00","date_gmt":"2018-01-29T02:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2018\/01\/28\/bummer-of-a-birthmark-recep\/"},"modified":"2018-01-28T21:35:00","modified_gmt":"2018-01-29T02:35:00","slug":"bummer-of-a-birthmark-recep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2018\/01\/28\/bummer-of-a-birthmark-recep\/","title":{"rendered":"Bummer of a Birthmark, Recep"},"content":{"rendered":"
It appears that even Cypriot Turks, for whom Turkey is a shield against ethnic cleansing by the Greek Cybriots, are taking to the streets against Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan<\/a>:<\/div>\n

Thousands of Turkish Cypriots chanting \u201cwe want our country back\u201d have taken to the streets of Nicosia despite heavy rain, after calls for a mass demonstration against Ankara\u2019s heavy-handed policies towards the breakaway republic.<\/p>\n

Tensions with the Turkish government mounted this week after a mob of hardliners attacked the office of the Turkish Cypriot newspaper Afrika for running a front-page article critical of the country\u2019s military offensive against Kurdish militants in Syria. <\/p>\n

Led by the nationalist Grey Wolves, they went on the rampage after the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan, criticised the newspaper\u2019s stance as \u201cimmoral\u201d and \u201cshameless\u201d.<\/p>\n

Beneath the headline \u201cone more occupation from Turkey\u201d, Afrika drew parallels with Ankara\u2019s 1974 military operation in Cyprus<\/a> when Turkey seized the island\u2019s northern third. <\/p>\n

The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe<\/a> condemned the attack as an assault on free press and freedom of speech. <\/p>\n

Ahead of the protest on Friday, Sener Elcil, a trade unionist, told the Guardian: \u201cThe attack was very violent and very humiliating for Turkish Cypriots, who no longer feel secure in their own country.\u201d At least 5,000 people were believed to have taken part. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn Turkey<\/a>, all the intellectuals, journalists and writers have been imprisoned. There is no opposition, but in Cyprus there are people who believe in democracy and peace,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/span>If history is any indication, an overreaction in Cyprus by Turkish troops might very will go pear shaped in a hurry, and if Turkish troops are expelled from Cyprus, that would be the end of Erdo\u011fan.<\/p>\n

One can only hope.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It appears that even Cypriot Turks, for whom Turkey is a shield against ethnic cleansing by the Greek Cybriots, are taking to the streets against Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan: Thousands of Turkish Cypriots chanting \u201cwe want our country back\u201d have taken to the streets of Nicosia despite heavy rain, after calls for a mass demonstration against …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[413,371,697,590,377],"class_list":["post-179471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-civil-rights","tag-europe","tag-near-east","tag-protests","tag-war"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179471"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179471\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}