Part 2, The Continuing Story Turkey/Uranus/Pluto, June 2013

I got the story in email, but it seems to suggest FB as well. In any case it appears to be a very clear and knowing picture of the situation in Turkey. Since there is a suggestion of a need for anonymity, I've simply removed all names and replaced with identifiers in brackets. There's my friend, the friend of my friend who lives/lived in Turkey, and another friend too.

An Occupy Gezi demostrator takes part in a gas mask dance protest in Gezi Park Photograph: Claudia Borgia/Demotix/Corbis

Since I started this in my astrological blog I guess that I need to include some astrology in order to keep a good fit. I apologize that I don't have time to translate it all into English, and this will be mostly astro-babble to those not versed in astrology. If you like learning about the Turkey crisis but not the astrology just scoot down to the sentence that begins, "Oh, and by the way . . ."

Write to startalker@aol.com if you'd like some help in dealing with your personal revolution!

The 1923 chart for the Republic shows a time of change but one when Uranus and Pluto were in a very harmonious Grand Trine with Venus. Not a "strong" trine but nonetheless a classic harmony indicative of a country with three languages and two principal ethnic groups united in its borders.

The May 25 eclipse activated Turkey's Progressed Mars among other connections. Saturn of severity and restriction has been transiting over the Sun of the Republic. The Progressed Sun has reached a stage with the Natal that indicates that it's time for action for continuation and growth. Uranus and Pluto (remember them) are closely involved with, challenging, and activating the Progressed Moon (the People). There are several chapters that might be written about the astrology, but this will have to assuage my guilt at almost not including astrology with this information that I think is just great and that you may never find in our conventional media.

Aloha, Tim

The anonymity request goes like this: "Oh, by the way, please don't use my name in any way associated with this. There are things in there that could get me arrested in Turkey when I travel there [deleted], so it's best for me to lay low at the moment. In fact, please don't mention that I'm [deleted]. Just say you got this from the friend of a friend who lives in Turkey. Thanks!

So here's what I got and recommend to anyone who wants to know what's really going on in Turkey and why.

On Tue, Jun 4, 2013 at 1:04 PM, [the friend of a friend who lives in Turkey]; wrote:
[friend who lives in Turkey], No SERIOUSLY,   What is going on over there?   I know what I hear on Pacifica Radio, (listener sponsored radio) but do you want to add an inside story?    I KNEW when you came back to the US that things there were brewing!   

To: [Friend] Sent: Tue, Jun 4, 2013 8:47 pm
Subject: Re: See what happens when you leave Turkey....the country falls apart!
Hi [Friend],

It's crazy over there ... but the people are finally fed up!  We wish we were there right now to join in the protests, but all we can do is be a part of the resistance movement from abroad, and try to enlighten people.  Most Americans have no clue about what's really going on there, and the White House, to it's discredit, is either clueless, or knows exactly what's going on and just doesn't want the boat to be rocked. 

Interestingly, [a friend] wrote me a note on FB asking me about it, and I sent him a long reply.  I'll copy and paste it for you to save time. (See below)  Bottom line is that the PM Erdogan is not only a religious fundamentalist (he's a former imam), but also a narcissistic and ruthless street fighter type of leader in the lineage of Milosevic, Saddam Hussein, Ghadafi, El-Assad (Syria), Kim Jun-Un, etc.  Erdogan, who convened Parliament at 7am to quickly pass a bill re. severe alcohol restrictions, and said this week "Whoever drinks alcohol is an alcoholic", is himself drunk on power.  Hence, his arrogant response to last week's Gezi Park protests, calling the people looters, marginals, extremists, etc. (if you see the photos you'll notice people of all ages and from all walks of life in Turkey) ... and saying things like "If you show up with 10,000 people, I'll summon a million of my supporters" and (in light of the fact that the first protesters climbed trees and hung on to keep the bulldozers at bay) said, "We should hang them all from trees!  They're used to that!"  I could go on and on and on about him, because I lived in Turkey for 10 years under his ruthless rule.  He is an extremely dangerous man, who needs to go! 
If you read some of the articles I've posted in recent days you'll get a better overall political view of what's happening.
Thanks for asking!
[a friend who lives in Turkey]

People sit down as they continue with their protest at Gezi Park Photograph: Selin Alemdar/Getty Images

COPY OF MY FB CONVERSATION WITH [a friend]:
[friend]
Wondering how Turkey came to be in this mess. If the folks are supportive of Ataturk's democracy, and presumably they still live in a democracy - in that they still have free elections - how did the radical Islamists come to dominion in the gov't, and why don't the folks just vote them out?
Sunday
12:01am
[a friend who lives in Turkey]
Excellent question, [friend]. Unfortunately, the secularists got bogged down with corruption and infighting sometime during the 1980's, resulting in a splintering of the secular democrats. By the time I reached Turkey in 1999 (to help with disaster relief in the aftermath of the terrible earthquake that hit Turkey that killed over 18,000) there were around 20 different political parties running for elections. After two serious economic crises (similar to Argentina of the 80's and 90's, in which the currency wasn't worth the paper it was printed on) the center-left parties split their votes, allowing the former imam Erdogan and his newly formed AKP party, with it's roots in Islamic fundamentalism, to win the general election of 2001 with a little over 30% of the vote. AKP then took the new economic plan that the secularists had developed (and were in the process of implementing) and followed it to a T, resulting in an economic turnaround. They laid low concerning their religious agenda during their first term, focusing on the economy, and had such success in that area that they were returned to power in the 2007 elections with over 40% of the vote.

In Turkey, unless a party wins over 10% of the popular vote they cannot enter parliament, so the result in both elections for the fundamentalists was a roughly 2/3rds majority in parliament, allowing them to pass virtually any legislation they wanted. On the sly, they slowly took over the police force and judiciary with new appointments of their own people. Then they took over the normally almighty military (historical caretakers of Ataturk's vision) by trumping up charges of insurrection against over 200 generals and throwing them in jail, where they are lingering til today awaiting trials that will take years to materialize. In Turkey's past, the military would step in during times like this to get the country back on track with secular democracy, but alas, that is no longer an option. Finally, Erdogan has been ruthless with the media, jailing journalists who oppose him (Turkey has more journalists in jail today than any country in the world!) as well as buying up as many media companies as possible via his new-rich religious fundamentalist cronies. Meanwhile, he has developed a wide net of people beholden to him through a mix of govt handouts, charity and cronyism (handing out contracts to his buddies, etc.). In this way he has expanded his base. The country continued to prosper (8% growth last year, 2nd in the world to China) tripling per capita income since he took over, so a lot of the people are somewhat happy in that they have more money. Consequently, his party won the 2011 election with roughly 48% of the vote ...

However, in the process people who are aligned with the secular democracy are becoming more and more marginalized, and getting more and more upset at his authoritarian style of leadership and the way he is slowly (some say quickly) introducing religion in to the mix, as with the parliament decisions last week concerning major restrictions on alcohol.

Anti-government protesters demonstrate in Ankara Photograph: Umit Bektas/Reuters

I could go on and on all night about this, but will stop here. Suffice it to say that the cauldron has been boiling ... and the Gezi Park incident over the removal of trees from Istanbul's equivalent of NY's Central Park to turn it into a shopping mall tipped the cauldron over. The protest is not so much about trees now, as it is about Erdogan's politics, religion and autocratic style. Now it's wait and see what will happen next. My guess is that, knowing Erdogan, he will become even more aggressive and try to end all these demonstrations asap. (He has a pattern of dealing ruthlessly with all opposition.) But my hope, of course, is that a genuine people's power movement will result in a tidal wave of action that will return the country to its roots of secular democracy.

PS: Oh, one other very interesting (and scary) point ... Erdogan is currently serving in his 3rd and last (as allowed by the Constitution) term as Prime Minister, the true head of state in Turkey. We do have a President, but that position has heretofore been largely ceremonial. HOWEVER, Erdogan and his AKP party are in the process of changing the Constitution and switching over to a US-style presidential system. They hope to complete that process in time for next year's presidential election ... and, surprise, surprise, Erdogan will run for President. So, unless the people stop him, we're looking at another 3 terms of him as president (around 15 years or so), thus a bonafide middle eastern dictatorship that could last over 25 years. This is what makes the current uprising so important. For Turkey, it's probably now ... or never ... at least not for the foreseeable future. And the implications for this in terms of the Middle East (and the world) are astounding. Erdogan envisions himself as a sort of second coming Ottoman Empire sultan ... and the new leader of the Muslim world ... and that's what's so scary.
12:57am
[friend]
I never suspected the current crisis had much to do with trees, but was unaware of the growing discontent since the PM has seemed to be growing in popularity since first taking the helm, and from the viewpoint off the casual observer has appeared to be leading the country in a more prosperous, and presumably more satisfactory, direction. Your explanation helps clarify how a well organized, and focused, minority can seize power and placate the ignorant masses while methodically disenfranchising a large, disorganized, and perhaps myopic, opposition. Turkey apparently needs a leader who can consolidate the various opposition factions and challenge the regime. Unfortunately, given the ruthlessness of the PM, and the great effort required for such a leader to emerge, the likelihood of its occurrence is remote.
Sunday
4:12pm
[the friend of a friend who lives in Turkey]
Very perceptive, [friend]! We need a new "Ataturk".

Copyright © Tim Rubald 2013 (except for quoted portions & photos that belong to their owners).