Turkish Prime-Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (finally I can write his name correctly; in the Dutch alphabet we don't have the soft G) easily survived a no-confidence vote recently. The opposition filed the motion last week after police forces had, in their opinion, used excessive force against left-wing (socialist and communist) protestors who wanted to celebrate 'labor day' (May 1) by virtually destroying Istanbul's inner-city.

One could clearly see what happened in television on that day: left-wing, collectivist, protesters (many students among them) attacked the police and ignored the government (which had said that they could protest, but not in certain areas). Violent communists truly tried to beat up policemen, who were greatly outnumbered, time and again.

The police could not react differently: the protesters were too violent. The decision to use force (water cannons and tear gas canisters) was correct. Although I am not a fan of Erdoğan, it has to be said that he did not make a mistake in this particular case.

Most anti-AKP people I talked to agree with my take on the situation by the way. The motion by the opposition is considered, by many, to be quite ridiculous.

And that once again shows why Turkey's opposition can't achieve anything.

Cross posted at PoliGazette