Turkey, not just Istanbul, is at war with itself. The media is under the thumb of an autocratic dictator. Everything reported by Turkish press or its TV is vetted first by the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. That is why I continue writing--to get out some truth from an area where the tag is wagging the dog. 

Erdoğan calls the protesters rioters, hooligans, a rabble, and anti-Turkish, yet it is his police that behave like terrorists. Last night after the police tear-gassed a peaceful demonstration (check out yesterday's picture) with over 100 small children in the crowd, many injured protesters entered a mosque, which had set up its ground floor as a triage center, mini-hospital. The police then shot their (acid-laden or pepper-infused) water cannon into the mosque!

Talk about treating a religious institution with disrespect! If a western Christian had done what Istanbul police did, a fatwa for his or her death would have been issued. 

Turkey is supposed to be a country ruled by law. It has a Constitution that has been revised and clarified several times since Ataturk. How does that jibe with police squad arresting the lawyers in their black robes who came down to Taksim Square in order to support the protesters' right to "peaceably assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances"? (A phrase well known to anyone who has read the American Bill of Rights -- or the Turkish Constitution.)

More and more, I see a people struggling to realize their individual freedom but having a government that pays lip-service to its own rules. I believe that the current Turkish prime minister sees Ataturk's secularization and modernization as a mistake that must be rectified. Erdoğan wants to restore the Caliphate with himself as Sultan. He is already behaving like one.

The author is a regular contributor to American Thinker who prefers to remain anonymous. He fears possible reprisals by Turkish government against his son who is and will remain a resident of Istanbul.