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THOUSANDS GATHER FOR TURKISH TEEN'S FUNERAL
Tribune-Review, Pittsburgh
March 12 2014
By Ali Abaday
ISTANBUL -- Thousands of mourners here have clogged city streets
today as they mark the funeral for a teenager accidentally caught
between protestors and police nine months ago.
Berkin Elvan had been in a coma since June 2013, when he was struck in
the head by a gas canister during a police crackdown on protesters. He
had been on an errand to buy bread just as police moved against
protesters in Istanbul's Okmeydani neighborhood.
Elvan had become an iconic symbol to people here concerned about
police brutality in crackdowns against protestors opposed to the
government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
So many people attended the funeral procession that it paralyzed car
traffic around the city. The main street leading to Taksim Square,
site of the largest protests last year, was closed to traffic.
Mourners sought to enter Gezi Park as well, where the first protests
started and near where Elvan was injured, but police had closed
the park.
Employees at Agos, a Turkish-Armenian weekly newspaper whose legendary
editor Hrant Dink was murdered seven years ago, unfurled a banner
in solidarity with Elvan during the funeral procession. It read:
"A child and a bread are sacred. We won't forget you Berkin."
Word of Elvan's death on Tuesday sparked clashes between protesters
and riot police in several cities, the Associated Press reported. The
state-run Anadolu Agency said 102 people were arrested overnight in
the Aegean port city of Izmir.
On Wednesday, thousands converged in front of a house of worship
where Berkin's body lay, and marched to the spot where he was struck
in the head on June 16, before proceeding to the cemetery, his casket
carried on mourners' shoulders.
Mourners chanted "Berkin Elvan is immortal," "Government resign!" and
"Murderer Tayyip." Some protesters hurled stones at a ruling party
building, smashing its windows.
The protesters' anger was directed at Erdogan because he sanctioned
police's often heavy-handed crackdown on the wave of protests that
swept Turkey in the summer, and praised police as heroes.
Berkin's death also comes at a time when Erdogan is fighting
allegations of corruption and has taken a series of controversial steps
-- including removing police and prosecutors from key positions --
which critics say are aimed at stalling investigations into alleged
corruption. Turkey holds local elections on March 30, which Erdogan
has acknowledged will act as a referendum on his rule.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
http://triblive.com/usworld/world/5752208-74/police-berkin-erdogan#axzz2vmabZGJ6
Tribune-Review, Pittsburgh
March 12 2014
By Ali Abaday
ISTANBUL -- Thousands of mourners here have clogged city streets
today as they mark the funeral for a teenager accidentally caught
between protestors and police nine months ago.
Berkin Elvan had been in a coma since June 2013, when he was struck in
the head by a gas canister during a police crackdown on protesters. He
had been on an errand to buy bread just as police moved against
protesters in Istanbul's Okmeydani neighborhood.
Elvan had become an iconic symbol to people here concerned about
police brutality in crackdowns against protestors opposed to the
government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
So many people attended the funeral procession that it paralyzed car
traffic around the city. The main street leading to Taksim Square,
site of the largest protests last year, was closed to traffic.
Mourners sought to enter Gezi Park as well, where the first protests
started and near where Elvan was injured, but police had closed
the park.
Employees at Agos, a Turkish-Armenian weekly newspaper whose legendary
editor Hrant Dink was murdered seven years ago, unfurled a banner
in solidarity with Elvan during the funeral procession. It read:
"A child and a bread are sacred. We won't forget you Berkin."
Word of Elvan's death on Tuesday sparked clashes between protesters
and riot police in several cities, the Associated Press reported. The
state-run Anadolu Agency said 102 people were arrested overnight in
the Aegean port city of Izmir.
On Wednesday, thousands converged in front of a house of worship
where Berkin's body lay, and marched to the spot where he was struck
in the head on June 16, before proceeding to the cemetery, his casket
carried on mourners' shoulders.
Mourners chanted "Berkin Elvan is immortal," "Government resign!" and
"Murderer Tayyip." Some protesters hurled stones at a ruling party
building, smashing its windows.
The protesters' anger was directed at Erdogan because he sanctioned
police's often heavy-handed crackdown on the wave of protests that
swept Turkey in the summer, and praised police as heroes.
Berkin's death also comes at a time when Erdogan is fighting
allegations of corruption and has taken a series of controversial steps
-- including removing police and prosecutors from key positions --
which critics say are aimed at stalling investigations into alleged
corruption. Turkey holds local elections on March 30, which Erdogan
has acknowledged will act as a referendum on his rule.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
http://triblive.com/usworld/world/5752208-74/police-berkin-erdogan#axzz2vmabZGJ6