'Community action' Ankara style
Jul 11 2006 11:57
From todays English language press:
Turkish Daily News wrote:
Demolition in Ankara leads to detention of 57Tuesday, July 11, 2006
ANKARA - Turkish Daily News
Police have apprehended 57 people who used sticks, stones, knives and Molotov cocktails to stop the demolition of the Maltepe Bazaar, known for illegally selling CDs, DVDs and electronic equipment.
Violence erupted on Sunday night when demolition teams from the Çankaya Municipality arrived at the bazaar to start demolishing tents. The teams arrived at night to avoid scuffles.
The municipality wants to build a multi-storey car park and shopping mall in the central district.
Police fought back attackers with pepper spray and took 57 people into custody.
The Ankara Police Department said those who were taken into custody were being interrogated, with all of them expected to be sent to court for arrest.
The group that attacked the demolition team also caused damage to the Maltepe Bazaar and the Çankaya Municipality Parks and Gardens Department across the street.
Two demolition vehicles, two cars and numerous police vehicles were also damaged in the clashes. One truck was burnt.
Vegetable sellers at the Maltepe Bazaar said they had not heard of the clashes when they arrived in the morning but criticized the decision to demolish the place.
Reports said nine people were injured during the clashes. The Doğan News Agency said a group had tried to prevent demolition teams from doing their job but had also clashed with each other.
The attackers said they had lodged an appeal against the decision to demolish the bazaar, claiming that men from the contractor that is to build the car park and mall had attacked them.
The makeshift tents were all demolished after the police dispersed the crowd.
In the Turkish media it said that people had guns, but they were not used.
And there I was saying that there was no community based campaigns in Ankara. Actually, I don't think that this is a working class based movement.
Devrim
Jul 13 2006 05:54
#2
I was actually talking to a guy at work about this yesterday, and he was saying that most of his relatives worked there, and had lost their livelihoods. I was actually quite sympathetic until he revealed that they all had big houses (most people in Ankara live in apartments, owning a house means you are rich) form working there.
Devrim
Jul 13 2006 09:58
#3
Well it is defending the bourgeoisie, but sometimes due to competition between factions they screw us slightly less. They'd have saved Broadway market if they'd defended it like that.
Jul 13 2006 18:39
#4
Jef Costello wrote:
They'd have saved Broadway market if they'd defended it like that.
this is true, and it might well have happened. It wasa a conscious decision that it didn't.
Jul 15 2006 14:43
#5
Tacks wrote:
this is true, and it might well have happened. It wasa a conscious decision that it didn't.
It's all very well saying this, but you can only go so far when levels of millitancy are as low as they are nowadays.
There again, I'm no expert on this, what was the attitude of the residents to the idea of violent resistance?
Jul 17 2006 23:28
#6
"known for illegally selling CDs, DVDs and electronic equipment" - says to me this may be a gangster inspired action rather than genunine community action. Glasgow has similar open air market which is suppsedly biggest illegal CD/DVD seller in Europe/EU, and that trade is controlled by gangsters, since serious money is involved and bribes or other backhand pressure is required to allow it to continue. That market is said to have been raised by President Bush with Prime Minister Blair at their meetings, possibly similar high level IMF/US pressure has been brought to bear on the Turkish government.
Jul 18 2006 14:56
#7
afraser wrote:
"known for illegally selling CDs, DVDs and electronic equipment" - says to me this may be a gangster inspired action rather than genunine community action. Glasgow has similar open air market which is suppsedly biggest illegal CD/DVD seller in Europe/EU, and that trade is controlled by gangsters, since serious money is involved and bribes or other backhand pressure is required to allow it to continue. That market is said to have been raised by President Bush with Prime Minister Blair at their meetings, possibly similar high level IMF/US pressure has been brought to bear on the Turkish government.
Yes, I was sort of implying that it wasn't 'genuine community action'. There used to be people selling pirate CD's all round the city centre, but the police clamped down on them about four years ago. At this market, the police would raid it about once a week, and everything pirate would disappear just before they arrived.
Dev
No, doesn't look like the proletarian political milieu to me either!