Protests to comeback in Turkey on 22nd of February 2014 as President of Turkish Republic approved a series of new acts to restrict internet freedom in Turkey.
After the proposition of new acts to restrict internet
freedom in Turkey by the Turkish parliament, The president Abdullah Gul
ironically declared on twitter that has approved the new act on February 18th
2014.
Of course, the reaction from Turkish social media was
not so calm. In the first 12 hours after Gul’s declaration, an approximate of
one hundred thousand users who follow Abdullah Gul on twitter has stopped
following him. Later in the day Gul has literally invented a new method in
Turkish legal system and announced that there should be changes in the very act
that he just approved. Changes, that are not sufficient.
This has fired the internet users even more, and the
date is already set for the protests; 22nd of February 2014. Users
of twitter, facebook and other social platforms in Turkey already started
spreading the word to join the protests in Taksim, Istanbul and a total of 17
NGO’s already declared their support and invited their members to join the protests
on Sunday.
The spokesman of the protests declared that they want
protests to be peaceful without any damage done to the shops in Taksim,
Istanbul but as we have seen from the previous protests, this is a slim chance.
Another tense factor for this day is the major
football derby in Istanbul at the same date between Galatasaray and Besiktas in
Turkish Super League in Turk Telekom Arena, 20 minutes away from Taksim. With
an expected attendance of fifty thousand fans to the game, the tension between
Turkish police and protesters would reach to clashes again in case if they
decide to join the protests after the game.
I hope it will be a peaceful organization in the end.
The post will be updated with developments throughout the
weekend…
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