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Death of teenager sparks more protests in Turkey

The current domestic upheaval is intensifying for Turkey's prime minister with the death of a 15-year-old boy, in a coma since being hit in the head with a pepper-gas projectile during the Gezi Park protests last year.
Riot police use water cannon to disperse anti-government protesters near the Middle East Technical University (ODTU) in Ankara March 11, 2014. A 15-year-old Turkish boy who suffered a head injury during anti-government protests in Istanbul last June died on Tuesday after spending months in a coma, triggering renewed clashes between police and his family's supporters. Berkin Elvan, then aged 14, got caught up in street battles between police and protesters on June 16 after going out to buy bread for his fami

Turkey has been a truly vibrant country for some years now, with never a dull moment. But in my decades of highly politicized life I cannot recollect a period that has been so "vibrant" in the negative sense.

Many developments important enough to define any country's agenda for years to come are happening incessantly and simultaneously in Turkey. Nerves are taut with accumulating tension that is ready to explode at any moment.

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