THE ROVING EYE
Erdogan risks the 'must go' path
By Pepe Escobar

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Gezi park's destruction follows a globally tested neoliberalism racket; it will be replaced by a simulacrum - in this case a replica of the Ottoman Artillery Barracks - housing, what else, yet another shopping mall. It's crucial to note that the mayor of Istanbul, also from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), owns a retail chain that will make a killing out of the mall. And the man holding the contract for this "redevelopment" is no less than Erdogan's son-in-law.

Predictably harsh police repression led to the protesters being joined by top cadres from Turkey's main opposition party, the Republican People's Party (CHP). And sooner rather than later, the Taksim Square green theme morphed into a Tahrir square-style "Down with the dictator".

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Meanwhile, in the US and the European Union, Ankara has not really been condemned - just the usual, vapid, "concern". Turkey after all is the ultimate CNN poster country; it's totally "on message" in its brand of autocracy-enabling neoliberalism (as are the Gulf Cooperation Council petro-monarchies). To be violently condemned - and threatened with strikes - is the "privilege" of Iran and Syria.

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Friends of Turkey, anyone?
Erdogan may have admitted, grudgingly, that his police forces overreacted. Yet he can do no better than accuse the protesters, derided as "looters", of being "linked with terror" and having "dark ties"; their sole aim would be to cost the AKP votes in the 2015 parliamentary elections. He bragged he could bring out a million AKP supporters to the streets for every 100,000 protesters. Well, 5,000 of them have already managed to throw stones at his office in Besiktas.

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http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MID-01-030613.html?source=mm802&source=mm802