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Street Clashes Rock Istanbul, Turkish Government

Street clashs rock Istanbul, Kurds await answers to their demands, Alevis, moderate secularists and urban youths are angry, and yet the AKP is defiant.  
Riot police use tear gas to disperse the crowd during an anti-government protests at Taksim Square in central Istanbul May 31, 2013. Turkish police fired tear gas and water cannon on Friday at demonstrators in central Istanbul, wounding scores of people and prompting rallies in other cities in the fiercest anti-government protests for years. REUTERS/Murad Sezer (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTX107K8
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Despite the astonishing, far-reaching changes that Turkey has undergone in recent years, thickening clouds of anxiety are hovering over the country.

The apprehension has little to do with the economy. The negative energy emanating from Syria has a partial impact. The jitters in public sentiment stem essentially from increasingly pronounced links between politics and religion, interventions in lifestyles and the negligence of the demands of various social groups.

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