The unprecedented wave of protests sweeping Turkey has come along with an overdose of youthful creativity and humor, undoing overnight Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s domineering image that looked invincible only two weeks ago.
The protesters, led by urban middle-class youths rebelling against Erdogan’s increasingly authoritarian ways, have yet to extract any concessions from the premier, who has dismissed them with anger and disdain. Yet they have irreversibly cracked the wall of fear the government had built and reclaimed free speech — at least in the street and on social media.
