Police...! run!

Disclaimer: Turkey is not a police state...it is a functional democracy with some kinks to work out like every other democratic nation in the world

That being disclaimed i have to make the observation that the amount of police forces present here in Turkey has been alarming to me...at first it made me happy to see them in my early days here because as an American when i see police i think security

However as i have gotten more familiar with Istanbul in particular police presence is unsettling

I do not feel as if they are on every corner with tanks and guns for my protection, but rather for the states protection from me.

The police prowl the streets every where stopping people at random to check their legitimacy and i.d. i suppose. And they are always not far behind when protests take place along Istiklal street...which is the most famous street in Istanbul i'm sure.

there are scattered police stations everywhere, with men stationed out front with weapons that look eerily similar to AK-47's.

In my travels in Eastern Turkey i commented to my friend that there were only young men in hordes wandering the streets. and when there are young men with nothing to do wandering around...(no offense to the male gender) bad things tend to happen

there were police on motorcycles riding through a park and a young man made a snarky comment out loud as the police rode by. I was shocked to see them stop...get off their bike and begin to verbally harrass the young man and proceed to ask him for his id and begin to question him like he was a suspect of some crime.

I could have completley misread the situation but it seemed ridiculous that the most pressing matter that two policemen could deal with at the moment was a young boy who was being obnoxious...

but that is the feeling i gather from the police presence in Turkey...they are like a military force allowing the public to fulfill their wishes in a fashion that does not disrupt the order of the state...which could speak to my misunderstanding the role of police in America as well.

I see them as protecting me...but really maybe they are more like Turkish police...maybe they are not protecting society from itself but protecting the establishment from society....

things to think about...
Ciao!
Jessi