The initial protests against the destruction of Gezi Park have converted in a national uprising against the current government. 

For nearly a decade frustration with Prime Minister Erdogan has been growing among a large segment of the Turkish population.

Many Turks resent the Prime Minister’s often authoritarian style of governance and his increasingly conservative islamic ideology.

The brutal police repression of a few dozen protesters determined to protect the park from incoming  bulldozers marked a certain line for many. 

Protests in solidarity erupted across the country. 

 Gezi Park became the symbol of a Turkey where Turks could express themselves without fear of reprisals. 

For nearly two weeks, Turks of differing ethnic and political backgrounds and of different ages gathered in Gezi to imagine a different Turkey.

However Prime Minister Erdogan showed no mercy in his response. 

Police used water cannons, tear gas, and rubber bullets to disperse the protests. 

Maintaining a hardline Erdogan promised to continue the planned destruction of the park regardless of the widespread opposition.

4 people were killed in clashes with the police.  Erdogan would not allow his authority be questioned.

Today, a fracture within Turkish civil society has been revealed.

It appears as though the AKP’s moderate Islamism and embracement of neo-liberal economics is not as stable

as those in Ankara and the West would like to have believed.

The geo-political strategic importance of Turkey is not lost on Turkey’s allies.

So Erdogan finds himself in a tight squeeze. On the one side are the thousands, if not,

millions of  activists that are seeking his resignation. 

On the other are the interests of Turkey’s allies and their need for a stable Turkey.

Yet after another brutal crackdown against responsible for the Gezi Park protests it seems the Prime Minister is convinced

business as usual will suffice.