holiday:republic day

#erdogan's $350M presidential palace draws criticism
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/erdogans-350m-presidential-palace-draws-criticism

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday unveiled a new presidential palace on the outskirts of Ankara, denounced by ecologists as an environmental blight and by the opposition as evidence of his autocratic tendencies. Erdogan hosted his first official event at the new palace, a ceremony congratulating dignitaries on the annual republic day marking the foundation of modern #turkey in 1923 out of the ruins of the Ottoman Empire. The complex, located in the Bestepe (Five Hills) area, has become known as the Ak Saray – the White Palace. read more

Turkish police attack mass secular demonstration
►http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/turkish-police-attack-mass-secular-demonstration

Police on Monday used tear gas and water cannons to try to break up a demonstration by tens of thousands of pro-secular protesters, but the march to mark the founding of the Turkish republic went on in defiance of a government ban.

The Republic Day celebrations have in the past few years become a symbol of the divide between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s elected, Islamic-leaning government and its opponents who fear the country’s secular traditions are in danger.