Turkey: Attacks and provocations under way after the declaration of “Democracy Fest”

by Mehmet Bayram

Sendika News | 17 July, 2016

Here is a list of assaults and provocations we received as of today. We will be updating the list as we get and verify more attacks.

01:50AM Plainclothes police are provoking the residents in Tuzlucayir, Ankara by swearing and assaulting them then trying to arrest. Those who escape the police assaults are seeking refuge in nearby apartments.

00:35AM People refuse to leave the central Ugur Mumcu street in an anti-fascist protest.

00:23AM Police dismantles the barricades in Istanbul’s Gazi district, Yunus Emre neighborhood. Clashes continue in back streets.

Turkey: Now is no time to wait with apprehension

by Ferda Koç

Sendika News | 16 July, 2016

And so there you have it: a coup attempt by the “Peace in the Homeland Junta” that was composed of unknown elements and whose ultimate reach into the state was unclear has been thwarted. Over a 100 putschists were killed, and 3,000 active officers have been detained.

Turkey’s Faltering Democracy

by Paul Pillar

Consortium News | 18 July, 2016

Bearing in mind Erdogan’s increasingly evident authoritarian streak, defeat of the coup is not entirely a victory for liberal democracy. (Photo: Adem Altan / AFP)

Before this week it had come to be broadly accepted conventional wisdom that the days of Turkish military coups were over. After a post-World War II history in which the military had taken over the government about once every ten years, in the last couple of decades the return to the barracks appeared to be final.

Weak But Not Tired

A Frontier Editorial |Vol. 49, No.1, Jul 10 – 16, 2016

The news that ‘naxalism will be rooted out soon’ is totally fascinating, if not frightening. That is Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. He doesn’t stop there. He goes a step further as he would be a bit philosophical to elaborate his idea of ‘Maoist Menace’. While addressing paramilitary units after inaugurating an administrative building, parade ground and other special police complexes in Ranchi, the redoubtable Mr Singh appreciated the Jharkhand Jaguar (Special Force) specifically created to combat naxalites. Mr Singh also hopes, perhaps against hope, that Jharkhand would be the first state to be freed of left-wing extremism among other Naxal-affected states. Strangely enough, he didn’t utter a word or two about Chattisgarh where Maoist guerilla warfare sometimes takes positional war despite massive induction of specially trained paramilitary forces armed with latest and sophisticated weapons.

Three Years After Global Garment Industry’s Worst Disaster, 38 Indicted for Murder

by Andrea Germanos, staff writer

Common Dreams | 18 July, 2016

Human rights campaigners stage a demonstration in London in 2014 to call on retailers to pay up outstanding compensation to victims of the Rana Plaza factory collapse, and to ensure better safety in their Bangladeshi factories. (Photo: Trades Union Congress/flickr/cc)

More than three years after the collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory building near Dhaka killed over 1,100 people, a Bangladesh court on Monday formally charged 38 people with murder for their role in the catastrophe.