Erdogan, entourage lose control in Soma

The most emotional photograph from the Soma mine disaster was of a rescued miner covered all in black laid on a stretcher. His rescuer wished him good luck, and the miner said, “Should I remove my boots, so they do not dirty the stretcher?” Millions of Turks cried watching this scene. In the midst of tragedy, to see a survivor worrying about “dirtying the stretcher” was a heart-stabbing moment.

Within 24 hours of this incident another young man made the news from Soma. Yusuf Yerkel, an aide to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was caught on camera kicking a man. The prime minister’s convoy was met with angry protesters in Soma. The cars were “attacked” by local youth who were chanting, “Erdogan resign.” At one point, a protester allegedly used expletives, which is when Yerkel lost his cool and attacked the man. One minor detail is that two policemen already had subdued the protester when Yerkel began to kick him.