トルコで予想外の騒乱の発生
トルコは中東で最も経済成長の著しい国として、近年注目を集めてきている。そしてこれまで長年にわたって何とかＥＵへの仲間入りをお願いするような立ち場にいたこの国（ドイツへの大量の労働者派遣と彼らがドイツに住み着いているということのもつ問題）が、このところ、地域大国としての自覚と自信を持ち始めてきていることでも知られる。
この国に、思わぬところから思わぬ事態が発生して首相エルドガンの背筋を寒くさせている。
ことの発端は、政府が進める巨大プロジェクトの一環としてイスタンブールにある公園のとりつぶしを実行しようとしたところ、それに反対する市民とのあいだにマイルドな緊張が走った。政府はそれを過激ともいえるかたちで粉砕しようとしたから、急激に緊張が高まり、政府の方策への抗議行動がトルコ全土で発生したのである。
エルドガンはあまりの国民の怒りに驚いて、機動隊の撤退を行ったのだが、このことは、エルドガンが進めている大統領制度（その初代にエルドガンがなることが当然視されている）と、このところ急速に独裁的な動きを示すエルドガンにたいする警戒心の高まりという新たな問題を突き付けることになった。
トルコが抱えるもう１つの問題は、シリア問題である。シリアからのトルコへの難民の流入は膨大な数に達しており、彼らは国境沿いの難民キャンプ生活を送っている。
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Turkish protesters control Istanbul square after two days of clashes
Demonstrations pose biggest challenge yet to prime minister and expose government influence over media
• Constanze Letsch in Istanbul
• guardian.co.uk, Sunday 2 June 2013 17.30 BST
Turkish protesters gather in Taksim Square, Istanbul, on Sunday.
Turkish protesters controlled Istanbul's main square again on Sunday after two days of violent clashes with rampaging riot police, despite being dismissed as an "extremist fringe" by the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The demonstrations have been the biggest popular challenge to the prime minister after a decade in power, and serve as a setback for his ambitions to extend his powers.
What started last Monday as a relatively small, peaceful protest to save an inner city park from having to make way for a kitschy, Ottoman-style shopping centre rapidly snowballed into the largest and most violent anti-government protests that Turkey has seen in years.
Hundreds sustained injuries, some serious, as a result of the heavy-handed police intervention and the excessive use of teargas. Riot police withdrew from the capital on Saturday evening, handing victory to the demonstrators.
The protests spread across the country like wildfire, to half of the country's 81 provinces, according to the interior ministry. It added that 939 people had been arrested in 90 demonstrations and protests all over the country, while damage costs have not yet been announced.
"Erdogan does not listen to anyone any more," said Koray Caliskan, a political scientist at Istanbul's Bosphorus University. "Not even to members of his own party. But after the protests this weekend, he will have to accept that he is the prime minister of a democratic country, and that he cannot rule it on his own."
The dramatic events in Istanbul and other Turkish cities also exposed the complicity and almost complete government control of mainstream Turkish media, which largely failed to report on the protests.
"The Turkish media have embarrassed themselves," Caliskan said. "While the whole world was broadcasting from Taksim Square, Turkish television stations were showing cooking shows. It is now very clear that we do not have press freedom in Turkey."
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