Anti-Salafist Uprising in Turkey

[Leonardo17]

I’m going to start this post with a funny Pichachu Video that became viral in Social Media:




 
 
   What happened is that Mr. Ekrem Imamoglu, the main opposition leader was jailed 10 days ago on March the 18th in a totally Chavezian / Nicholas Maduro style with false accusation that were based on false statements that were given by “secret” witnesses with no evidence whatsoever. So now people are on the street and although we are approaching Ramadan fests (a Christmas like fest during which everyone is supposed to be with their families) everyone (including Pichachu) is on the street despite protest bans in big cities.
 
    The one thing I want to emphasize here is how these fascist or religious fascist movement are so similar to one another. First they cleverly misuse and take advantage of the principles of rule of law and democracy that is provided to them. Then they make use of every opportunity that is provided to them to strengthen their grip on power. Then they start working on democratic institutions and start eliminating any “power” they could challenge their ideology (which is the only possible way of seeing things in the whole G.D. Universe). Then you get to “Crystal Nacht” type of events in which people end up being in the street demanding justice and non-schizophrenic type of governance.
 
    I don’t know that much about Iran. But Turkey happens to be a real laboratory on how religiously oriented types of neo-fascist movements operate and try to social-engineer the society they are in (even if this is seemingly impossible). The other great example of course is Israel with all its conservative and Judeo-fascist political movements.

[Thumpalumpacus]

In your opinion, how unsettling is this unrest? Does it have any chance of deposing Erdogan, or will it only inspire further repression?

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Fundamentalists of any stripe are generally troublemakers, but I don’t fancy the Salafis chances.

Boru

[Leonardo17]

In your opinion, how unsettling is this unrest? Does it have any chance of deposing Erdogan, or will it only inspire further repression?

   The answer depends on many different factors. Like all populist leaders around the world they have this ability to occupy some ecological (political) niches and survive in these niches for the decades to come. You can compare this to the Rassemblement National movement of Jordan Bardela and Marine Lepen in France. You can isolate them, you can exclude them, and you can even campaign against them, but they are very resilient and will not go away completely no matter what you do.

   If you come back to what is happening in Turkey, these guys are already governing the country since 23 years. Their political predecessors were already governing important city municipalities since the mid 90’s. But if you look to the images above you can see how people are simply fed-up with these guys.

   Erdogan is currently thinking that the European have already got a lot on their plates with Ukraine right now. He is also probably emboldened by the reelection of Donald Trump. His friends in the Emirates are probably backing him as well. But the people here are very aware of everything he is doing. He is actually trying to wrap-up all the liberties and rights that we have already been enjoying for more than century now. So he is in a much different position in comparision to the Mullah's of Iran who are simply denying the Iranian people the freedoms and rights that they never really enjoyed even before 1979. 

   So nobody has a crystal ball in front of them. But I am thinking more globally: I think liberal minded / pro-democracy people around the world need to work more closely together. I think that all of these AfD-like structure will keep assaulting our freedoms continually at least for the next one or two decades to come.

[Leonardo17]

When you live in a conservative / authoritarian type of society (and this could be a secular type of authoritarian society, like communism for instance) you always have this feeling that something (everything) is being stolen from you. You gradually start having tendencies of giving up, running away to another place and basically, of being not good enough or even worthless (in comparison to other societies who seemingly have it better than you).

    What I have recently discovered is that this is at its core a “I am Negan” technique they are using on us. I other words, this feeling of being isolated or lonely in a place where everyone seems to have figured it out (except you yourself), that’s the main mechanism of a socially engineered fascist type of society.

   The difference between us and young people is that we are the ones who get things intellectually. While they are the one who feel all of this in their bones.




 
 
   These event is showing us the three different things that I am trying to mention here:

1) Religious views that are based on medieval doctrines that are totally inadequate in almost all areas but are still being kept alive because they are being used to keep people in line and promote obedience and submission in all levels of society.

2) Non-religious approaches and other reason based philosophical approaches to life that have all their benefits the most important being leaving other people alone and not making other people miserable even if you yourself are miserable.

3) Truly “religious” approaches, that come from Latin “religare” that means that you (as an individual) are seeking a connection with whatever it is you perceive as “the Divine” and almost all of these “religious” doctrines are telling us to leave people alone:

[Leonardo17]

 
   The video above is about students who were detained during the protests last week who were released this Wednesday. The video has a subtitle option but I’m going to translate the slogans they are shouting about our Salafist sympathizer government.
 
1) “Shoulder to shoulder against fascism” (This is a left-Wing Slogan from the 1970’s)
 
2) “This is only the beginning. We’ll keep on struggling.” (I don’t know the origin of this one but it has been around since the Gezi Protests of 2013)
 
3) “There is no liberation on your own. It’s all of us or it’s none of us” (A bit like “If we burn, you will burn with us” but this one is more local )
 

---

 
   Just from the protests that are erupting in Turkey since the Islamo-conservative government was able to seize power in August 2001 you can tell (from it’s opponents) that the islamo-fascist ideology has little to do with spirituality. In fact it is safe to say that their N-1 ally (other than religious sects with all forms of twisted Islamic ideology) is the Kurdish insurrectionist movement called the PKK (to which they are making regular compromises while appearing to be fighting them very decisively on the battlefield).
 
   On the other side of the spectrum. The opposition is being led by the secular social democrat party (The CHP). They too are working with the Kurdish opposition party (the DEM Party). + There is a group of conservative Islamist party in their alliances (I don’t really care about them). Then there is a group of nationalist parties (I don’t really care about them either). Then there is the Turkish Worker’s Party and a few other left-wing group who don’t have many seats in the parliament but are popular among young people (the Guys in the video).
 
   So what is happening (according to me), is that no one even cares about identities or adjectives any more. Very plainly and simply put: There are people who are confused with the modern world, who do not understand progress, who don’t know where they really belong in this Western Capitalist society, to whom governance by representation does not make any sense, who simply would be happier if none of the social changes that shook our societies in its core during the last 500 years had never happened. So they come in the form of extreme liberals, liberal conservatives, racists, anti-immigration activists, Anti-Western post-communist dictators (Belarus and Russia), political Islamists or even secularists (The opposite situation is happening in places like Egypt and Tunisia with strong, aging and corrupt leaders of some sort posing as secular progressive leaders – a bit like Bashar al Assad).

   On the other hand you have communists, anarchists, socialists, liberals, LGBTQ+ people, students, retirees, ordinary workers, educated people, peasants, farmers, ecologists, feminists, left-wing people, right wing people, conservatives even (as I have said) nationalists + conservative nationalists with atheists, spiritual people, non-spiritual people, people with some religious affiliation and people with no religious affiliation.
 
   So all that I see here is energy. There is the old energy. The energy that has been around for several millennia now. That’s the energy of feudalism and the rule of the strongest (really at its core that is exactly what Mr. Trump is promoting and I think he would confirm that is you ask it in private).
 
   Then there is the energy of change. The energy of risk takers. Those who believe that new stuff will bring more good than more evil to the world.
 
   At its core, this is a very personal choice. And this struggle has been with us at least since the 1700’s or so. But in our time the winning side is becoming more obvious every day. So these “old energy” people are getting angrier. Which is why Things like Hitler, Putin or even D. Trump and modern China are happening now in this 20th and/or 21st century.
 
   If you look at Mussolini or Hitler, you can see that it’s all about the past. Like everything that makes the modern era is actually “Jewish” and the New Russian Empire and their allies are actually there to liberate us from this nonsense for our own good. Even if it means causing the dead of tens of thousands of people in meaningless wars or putting entire fractions of society in reeducation camps etc.
 

---

 
   So there are those who expect positivity as a result of change and are therefore readily accepting it. And there is this Tamasic (stagnant) energy that rejects it and believes that mankind simply does not change.n

[Leonardo17]

Something similar to May 1968 (Paris Uprising) may be starting to happen. Protests are happening in many different cities, with different layers of society being affected.
 
Bellow (Here comes the neighborhood): Graduate students were banned from entering this high school. This resulted in the actual students (seniors and other classes apparently) jumping over the fences to join with them:
 
 


 
The problem with Salafism and other fundamentalist approaches is this: Just like communists of fascists, they are unable of self-criticism. Even today they probably believe that (someday) their twisted interpretations of religious teaching can and will be accepted by large layers of society.
 
Or: This simply demonstrates their completely hypocritical and narcissistic nature.

Meaning: They know perfectly that everything about them is B.S. and they will admit this to themselves but not to others (because that’s the only way they know how to be and they simply don’t know how to be normal, empathic human beings like the rest of us).

[Leonardo17]

 
The 19th of May 1919 is the day in which Kemal Atatürk came from Istanbul and landed din the city of Samsun to start the war of independence that would end in August 1923 with the defeat of Greek forces and the beginning of the secular Turkish Republic.
 
Since the arrest of Istanbul’s elected mayor the 19th of March (this year). Nothing has really settled down. There is 1/3 of the population who still believe in the lies of the Putinist government. There is 1/3 of the population who is confused beyond repair. Who simply do not know which way to go with the dire economic condition and conflicting information that are being conveyed to them through social media and other forms of media.
 
Still to the remaining 1/3rd everything is crystal clear. We know exactly what those Salafists are trying to achieve.
 
So the 19th of May celebration were turned into these huge protests in all major cities. The one bellow is happening in Izmir. Some 2 million people were there to try to protect democracy and secularism. The group on the video is called Duman (Smoke). The refrain of the song they are seen singing in this Concert / demonstration goes like:
 
“With their hands up in the air (The political Islamists)
And their Turban (Kufi) on their head,
Here they are walking to the palace (The presidential Palace in Ankara built by the ruling Great Russia Party)”




















Summary: We sort of do not want these Salafists anymore (we never did).

+ their understanding of religion is in many ways contradictory to most local cultures of this geography. It’s a Maduro style doctrine designed to subdue local population and concentrate all powers and riches in the hands of the few.

[Leonardo17]

I decided to translate all the lyrics of this Duman (Eng. Smoke) group they sort of became our anthem in this 19th of March 2025 wave of resistance. The video-clip is also quite humorous:




 
 
 
With their hands uo in the air
And A Kufi (a Turban) on their head
They crush sugar on the mirror (They inhale cocaine in their private cars and call it “sugar” – One of the top AK Party members had been busted in that way and claimed he was inhaling sugar not cocaine - )
Clean just like a cup of yogurt
Their head delicious (completely intoxicated)
They are walking to the palace, the palace (The Presidential Palace in Ankara / a key symbol of the increasingly authoritarian Rule in Turkey)
 
I just couldn't land on this planet, bro. (I really don’t know what they – supporters of the AK Party – have in their minds - )
İs the sky really blue?
Are the stars really there?
These stars are better

Once again we forgot to close the stable door before our horses went out
(He refers to the disastrous of election of May 2023 when another term was won by the AK Party)
Why are those horses so treacherous?
These horses are very treacherous
The donkeys are better (A note of anger toward AK Party supporters or the lack of sophistication of the average voter in Turkey)
These donkeys are better
 
Chorus:

With their hands raised into the air
And a Kufi on their head
They crush sugar on the mirror
Even cleaner than a cup of yoghurt
Their heads are so delicious
They are walking toward the palace, toward the palace
 
Verse:

We were unable to join you on your trip Bro (I don’t know which substance you are using)
This show is awesome
The actors are better
(He is making a word game. The word “Actor” is similar to the word “Ak-Troll” – Troll who works for the AK Party on social media sharing false info’s etc.)
These actors are better
We couldn't chase the crows away again, brother.
The scarecrow is such a sucker (He refers to all the actors that simply stood by while the Political Islamists kept gaining powers years after year – the opposition, the armed forces, the media, upper classes and other influencial people)
The birds are villainous (Again another reference to AK Party internet trolls who are organized in groups with bird names like the “Ebabil” – a mystical bird of the east like the phoenix)  
These birds are villainous
 
Chorus:

With their hands raised into the air
And a Kufi on their head
They crush sugar on the mirror
Even cleaner than a cup of yoghurt
Their heads are so delicious
They are walking toward the palace, toward the palace
 
I just couldn't join you on your trip Bro (I don’t know on which planet you have landed)
İs the sky really blue?
Are the stars really there?
These stars are better
 
Have we been able to pierce the Sultan Bro?
(The Sultan = Belisarius / Have we been able to win the elections?)
We couldn't overthrow the sultan again, brother.
These lambs are so ignorant (AK Party Voters)
These wolves are so villainous (AK Party Members)
These wolves are villainous
 
Chorus:

With their hands raised into the air
And a Kufi on their head
They crush sugar on the mirror
Even cleaner than a cup of yoghurt
Their heads are so delicious
They are walking toward the palace, toward the palace
 
Writer(s): Riza Kaan Tangoze Head Vocal + Guitarist of the Rock Group Duman (Smoke)
 
Duman is a Grunge / Alternative Rock band that mixes some western type of melodies with more Anatolian-Rock style melodies that has been active since 1999.
During the Gezi Protest of 2013 (another massive popular movement against the political islamists) They had issued a song called “Eywallah” (OK / Thank you / As Wish).
I will not share the lyrics of that songs. In summary is says “ Eyvallah (OK / Thank you / As Wish), to your pepper gas, your cops, you attack dogs, your violence and all your negative attitude on us”.