Turkey, Turtles, and Tunisia

Let's lead with the ladies....

"Turkish women protest plan to curb abortions" Associated Press, June 04, 2012

ANKARA, Turkey - On Sunday, thousands of demonstrators staged the largest protest yet against plans by Turkey’s Islamic-rooted government to curb abortion, which critics say will amount to a virtual ban.  

Yeah, if it's not the veil it's something else.

Around 3,000 women - their ages ranging from 20 to 60 years old - gathered at a square in Istanbul’s Kadikoy district. Some carried banners that read “my body, my choice’’ and shouted antigovernment slogans.

Many of the women were accompanied by husbands and boyfriends. One young protester - her left fist clenched aloft - carried a placard that read “State, take your hands off my body,’’ while a man waved a slogan reading “My darling’s body, my darling’s choice.’’

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called abortion “murder,’’ and his government is reportedly working on legislation to ban the operation after four weeks from conception, except in emergencies.

Fusun Sirkeci, a London-based obstetrician and gynecologist, said in an e-mail Saturday that most women don’t learn they are pregnant until after four weeks and it is difficult to establish placement of the pregnancy sac during that period. Abortion is presently legal in Turkey up to 10 weeks from conception.

“They say it is my body, my choice. Feminists say this,’’ Erdogan said Saturday. “No one has the right to abort a fetus in a body.’’

Analysts say Erdogan is pursuing a delicate strategy of beefing up Turkey’s regional power with a large population, while trying to balance the country’s demographics in the face of a high birth rate among the country’s Kurds.  

Ever notice Turkey acts a lot like Israel?

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"Turkish leader shifts his stance on military" by Emre Peker  |  Bloomberg News, June 10, 2012

ANKARA, Turkey - Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish imam based in the United States and leader of a movement widely seen here as a driving force behind the prosecutions, has been in Pennsylvania since he left Turkey in March 1999 to undergo a health checkup in the United States, according to Ahmet Sik’s book “The Imam’s Army.’’ In June that year, Turkish TV showed footage of the imam telling followers to spread his ideas and conquer the state from within in the name of Islam, the book says....

He's an Al-CIA-Duh asset or agent!!

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Related: President of Turkey can finish term

"The fire exposed the problem of overcrowding in some Turkish prisons.... " 

Like Honduras?  

Time to take a swim across the Mediterranean. 

Also see: Florida's Frozen Orange Juice 

Time For Some Turtle Soup 

We will get moving again right after lunch.

"Tunisia bans rival protests amid tensions" Associated Press, June 15, 2012

TUNIS - The Tunisian government, citing concerns of possible violence, has banned a series of marches planned for Friday by hardline Islamists and rival groups amid rising religious tensions in a nation struggling to emerge from years of secular dictatorship.

Translation: the Tunisian revolution has officially failed.

The announcement Thursday by the Interior Ministry comes as Tunisians are reeling from clashes earlier this week between police and religious youth in the capital and other cities after protests erupted over an art exhibit that hardline Islamists said was blasphemous. 

The fact that the U.S.media and administration are quiet about this tells you a lot.

Tunisians overthrew secular dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali last year in a popular uprising that sparked similar movements around the region.

The old regime savagely repressed any manifestations of political Islam. In its absence there has been an upsurge of new religious groups.

The growing tensions in Tunisian society now are not just between the religious-minded and secularists, however, but also between moderate Muslims and ultraconservative Islamists.

Past attempts by the Interior Ministry to ban demonstrations by secular groups have resulted in clashes between police and protesters.

The artwork that spurred the latest clash included paintings caricaturing Mecca, portraying a nude woman, and showing the word “Allah’’ spelled with strings of ants.

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Related: Tunisia extradites Libyan ex-official

That confirms my analysis.

Also see: Tunisian Tuesday