Erdogan's speech upon his arrival to Turkey, yesterday night

via fb user Ozgur Demir

Below you can read the speech Reyep Tayyip Erdogan delivered at the airport, upon his arrival to Turkey, after his trip to the Maghreb countries. A big crowd welcomed him at the airport. Ozgur Demir translated it into English, as well as the crowd's interactions.

RT:
Dear brothers, people of Istanbul, friends, citizens attaching us from their TVs. I salute you with all my heart. I thank you for giving us this Istanbul night filled with amazing joy and excitement. Tonight I don't only salute you but I also salute every one of my brothers in every village, every city of Turkey.

Crowd: Ya Allah, Bismillah, Allah-u Ekber…

RT:
I salute my grandmothers, my sisters. I salute my worker brothers, farmers, laborers, villagers who work hard is to put bread on the table. I salute my young brothers who are as grand, as dignified and as poised as Turkey is.

Crowd: Istanbul is right here, where are the chapulcus?

Statements by Erdoğan from today (03/06/2013) morning

From the tweets of Kadir Murat Yildiz

In a press conference this morning, the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, on the occasion of his departure from Morocco, spoke about the traditional relations of his country with Morocco, the important trade agreements and the financial cooperation between Turkey and the north African states. He also said that he has been a supporter of the Arab spring and therefore he supports the development prospects of Tunisia.

Answering to a journalist's question, about what message he has received from the recent riots and if his administration intends to take any initiatives,
Erdoğan's answer was: "what message have you received?". He added that it is not about Gezi park, but the fact that his political opponents cannot hurt him politically using democratic means through elections, and they choose the way of riots.

The Turkish Prime Minister also said that the riots are instigated from within Turkey and abroad. To the question "who are the instigators", he answered that the issue is being investigated by the Turkish intelligence agencies and that the government will react based on the result of this investigation.

It is notable that Erdoğan was aggressive and sarcastic to the citizens that take part in the uprising, while at some point he mentioned that "160 from my police officers were injured, because they were peaceful". In response to a journalists remark about the Arab Spring, he said that in Turkey there is spring as well and "we will not let them transform it into winter".

Erdoğan was sarcastic even to the journalists. When one of them asked if he would use a "softer tone", the answer was "What softer tone? Teach it to me". He also attacked a journalist from Reuters, saying that he (the journalist) is giving false information to the international press agency and preaching to him about the Turkish Constitution. He finally mentioned that he "is keeping millions of his supporters in their homes", a statement that he is not making for the first time.

LIVE BLOG on May Day 2012 in Greece

By @inflammatory_ 

15:50 there seems to be no trouble in the area of Exarchia at the moment
15:05 Riot police in Exarcheia opposite protesters' barricades of trash bins in the middle of the street

pic by @_giant_

pic by @makissinodinos

LIVE BLOG on anti-austerity protests: Feb 10-11 & 12

By @inflammatory_ 

FEB 12 TIMELINE

01:00 Recap of the day's main events 

"Greece en rage", might be an accurate description of what happened today.

• Several preventive detentions in Athens took place before even the demo starts. 
• Massive turnout as expected.The crowd was dispersed very early though, around 17:30-18:00 when tensions aroused on the front side of the demo and riot police officers started hurling teargas to repel demonstrators on the lower side of the square.
• The demo was split, but protesters remained en masse in the nearby roads, to avoid clouds of tear gas filling the air...which was literally unbearable. With sheer determination they attempted to get back on the spot but riot squad tactics were aimed at halting the demo. This cat-and-mouse chase kept for 3,5 hours.
• There were reports by journalists of policemen attacking on random people, protesting peacefully.
• Paul Mason, the BBC correspondent was attacked by a bunch of far right protesters as they thought he was German. The worst was prevented thanks to other people's intervention.
• Clashes spread across the city, with banks and retail outlets set on fire. Estimated number of arsoned buildings at 10  45.
• 100 people suffered injuries, while 74 have been arrested and 92 detained.
• In Thessaloniki 28.000 people demonstrated (including PAME members) and clashes broke out between protesters and riot police as well.



Feb 12, 2012 Demonstrators flooding the streets outside the parliament before clashes pic @Jaquou Utopie