Thought this was a really interesting perspective on the Turkish protests. It looks at the impact of Erdogan's policies on the poor, most of whom can't afford to attend the protests. I think that the one thing we've been missing abroad is how often Turkish people talk about development & building as being a source of discontent - we tend to focus on the problems getting alcohol. Aside from the corruption, with a shopping centre being built in a city where they keep closing for lack of business, we've seen time and time again the problems of basing an 'economic miracle' on construction:
The building boom is part of Erdoğan's political and economic strategy. There are plans for two entire new cities, each of a million people, on either side of the Bosphorus. But it was another development project, the demolition of a city centre park to make way for another shopping centre, a kitschy replica of an Ottoman military barracks, that was the trigger for the protest that has escalated nationally and is now targeted at the person of the prime minister.
"Linking the whole economy to the construction sector is very problematic," says the urban activist and academic Yaşar Adanalı. "It turns a city into something that is supposed to generate profit without taking into account the needs of the city and the people."
The article also points out the problems of building these million strong new cities in places with no jobs and no amenities, pointing out they look like banlieues of the future.
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