My friend Yigal Schleifer has a report at the Eurasianet website on Turkey’s current political crisis.
Protesters clashed with police today in Taksim Square and the unrest spread to Istiklal Cadessi, where Yigal lives, and where I stayed during my visit last year. His neighborhood was unaffected, but he “got a good whiff of pepper gas” while watching events unfold down the block.
[Update: Yig points me to this interesting background story in the Financial Times. Seems the AKP and the army had already agreed on two possible presidential candidates, then the AKP did a switcheroo.]
[Update II: This post from Judeosphere details the frothing racism and antisemitism to be found among elements of the secularist forces in Turkey. In a sense, they’re not secular at all, but rather inflamed with the religion of ultra-nationalism. It’s wholly inaccurate to paint the crisis as secular democrats vs. religious fundamentalists.]
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