Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan is blaming social media for the outbreak of mass protests in Istanbul and other cities– which his government has been violently suppressing.
“There is now a menace which is called Twitter,” Erdogan said. “The best examples of lies can be found there. To me, social media is the worst menace to society.”
Clearly the demonstrations are about more than just plans to redevelop a park– although that is how they began. They are being portrayed as a protest of well-to-do secularists against an increasingly authoritarian Islamist government. But is it that simple?
Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo and Scott Lucas at EA WorldView provide some valuable context and historical background.
Do any of our readers familiar with Turkey have anything to add?
Update: And look who’s talking.
