It was deeply worrying that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan continued to paint the Gezi Park protesters at his June 16 rally in Istanbul as anti-Muslims. “Those who enter mosques with their shoes; those who consume alcohol at mosques; those who abused my sisters with head scarves on the streets, are you happy with what you have done?” he asked.
But the video footage from inside that mosque on the night of June 12 make it clear that the mosque was turned into a medical emergency station for many injured by the police’s excessive use of force. And it’s dubious how many women with head cover were verbally or physically abused. Many women with no head cover unfortunately face those challenges, too.