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From the airport our cab made it to the Eyüp Sultan Mosque—also popularly called Abu Ayyub Ansari’s mosque after one of the Prophet Muhammad’s companions who’s buried beside it—just at the beginning of the call to prayer. When Haroon first visited it 21 years ago, hardly a soul was to be found. When Wajahat first visited 16 years back, there were only a couple of women in hijab, or headscarf. But on that morning, hundreds, including many veiled women, showed up over an hour before the congregational services, on a weekday no less, to hear recitations of the Qur’an and collectively pray. Times change and so does Turkey.

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My first experience with tear gas took place last Tuesday in a rundown bar off of Istanbul’s İstiklal Street where my friend and I had come after visiting Gezi Park.

The Turkish prime minister’s hallucinatory depiction of the composition of the anti-government protests had left me half-expecting to find the park populated by oversized Lithuanian lepers on unicorns. My friend and I detected no such “marginal groups,” however, and the foreign terrorist alcoholic looters alleged to be fueling domestic unrest had apparently succeeded in disguising themselves as civilian non-drunks tranquilly sharing food, conversation, books, and music.

A few minutes after we had relocated from park to bar, riot police attacked the area with water cannons and tear gas, causing protesters to flee down İstiklal and surrounding arteries. Erdoğan has justified tear gas bombardments as the police’s “en doğal hakkı” or “most natural right.”

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The challenge by performance artist Erdem Gunduz is catching on with other protesters in Turkey, encouraged by social media into imitating his gesture across the country.

It's too early to tell whether the "standing man" protests will make a difference in the weeks-long challenge to the authority of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

But singular actions, captured in images distributed around the world, have sometimes influenced the course of history and transformed obscure figures into symbols of their era.

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DEATH IN TEHRAN

Neda Agha-Soltan was a 26-year-old aspiring musician when she and her music teacher were driving to a protest rally in Tehran on June 20, 2009. The rally was one of many protests against the results of that year's presidential election, which the opposition said was rigged by supporters of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The car's air-conditioner wasn't working so she left the vehicle to continue on foot, stopping to watch a protest some distance from the main rally. Suddenly, a bullet allegedly fired by a pro-government militiaman pierced her chest.

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These photographs are best viewed in full-screen mode.

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Riot police again deployed in Turkey's two main cities, and authorities kept up their unyielding stance against the street demonstrations centering on Istanbul's Taksim Square. But Monday's police sweep was less forceful than in recent days, with only scattered firing of tear gas and water cannon on pockets of protesters.

After activists were ousted from their sit-in in adjacent Gezi Park over the weekend, two labor confederations that represent some 330,000 workers picked up the slack Monday by calling a strike and demonstrations nationwide. Unionists turned up by the thousands in Ankara, Istanbul, coastal Izmir and elsewhere.

The turnout defied Turkey's interior minister, Muammer Guler, who warned that anyone taking part in unlawful demonstrations would "bear the legal consequences." But one analyst called the rallies a "legitimate and a lawful expression of constitutional rights."

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The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that fighter jets struck near the Kweiras air base near the Turkish border early Tuesday. Opposition forces fighting to oust Assad's regime for more than two years have been trying for months to take Kweiras and two other military air bases nearby.

Assad's regime has relied heavily in the past year on its air force to neutralize the opposition's territorial gains. In the last year, rebels have been able to capture much of the area near the Turkish border, several districts in Aleppo, the whole city of Raqqa and even dams on the River Euphrates. But they have had difficulty running these areas effectively because of the threat of attack from the air.

The Observatory, which relies on a network of informants inside Syria, also reported heavy clashes in Aleppo, the country's commercial hub.

There were no reports of casualties in either the strikes or the fighting.

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But what he doesn't see are the deadly police protest crackdowns in the streets of Istanbul that have caused many to question whether Turkey is ready to join the bloc of European countries.

“The EU gave Turkey time for reforms before it can come in and live up to EU standards knowing this would take ages,” the Greek official told International Business Times on a recent afternoon in New York City. “But Turkey needs help.”

In other words, if the EU is concerned about the violence between anti-government protesters and police that has left as many as five dead and thousands injured then the best way for the 27-country political union to deal with that problem would be to accept Turkey as a member. That would give the EU the leverage necessary to force the Turkish authorities to show more respect for human rights and more restraint in the face of domestic protests. Such a course of action would offer the added advantage of letting Europe benefit from Turkey's economic vitality.

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However, the interior minister issued a stark warning to organizers of the one-day labor walkout that is aimed at maintaining pressure on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government.

"I am calling on public workers and laborers to not participate in unlawful demonstrations — otherwise they will bear the legal consequences," Muammer Guler said. "Our police will be on duty as usual."

A day earlier, riot police cordoned off streets, set up roadblocks and fired tear gas and water cannons to prevent anti-government protesters from converging on Istanbul's central Taksim Square, while a few kilometers (miles) away Erdogan addressed hundreds of thousands of government supporters.

Police on Monday maintained a lockdown on Taksim, the epicenter of more than two weeks of protests, by barring vehicles. However, as the work week began, authorities re-opened a subway station at the square that had been shuttered Sunday when protesters tried to regroup.

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Unrelenting in their determination to stay in the streets, huge crowds have also gathered day after day in Ankara and Izmir as well as in other smaller cities. Three demonstrators have died and four others are currently in critical condition. This is in addition to more than 6000 injured people, including 10 who have lost eyes. The uprising has dominated the national discourse for more than two weeks as the country goes through the largest and longest urban popular revolt it has ever seen. It is now being regarded as a momentous political awakening for a whole generation.

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The initial commentaries sparked by this public statement demonstrated a major shortcoming in our discussion on Syria for months – a heavy fixation on tactics or means to achieve objectives, without much reference to the overall strategy with all of its components. At times it seems as if a “no strategy” zone has been imposed on the U.S. policy debate on Syria.

The Obama administration’s overall cautious strategy on Syria – and yes, it does have a strategy – remains largely intact and unchanged in the broad contours. The key question isn’t whether the administration has a strategy. Instead, the most important questions are whether the administration’s Syria strategy is effective in advancing U.S. security interests and values -- and whether the full range of means the United States is willing to invest in will produce the outcomes it hopes to achieve.

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Ratcheting up his defiant tone, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan appears determined to end two weeks of protests that have put an unflattering international spotlight on his Islamic-rooted government and its handling of the biggest street unrest of his 10-year tenure.

Erdogan's comments came a day after his Justice and Development party proposed a referendum over a development plan at Taksim Square that has fanned the protests. Police have repeatedly fired water cannons, tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the protesters; five people have died and over 5,000 have been injured. The government says 600 police were injured as well.

"This square belongs to the people of Istanbul, the people of the whole country, and to all international visitors. So we cannot allow troublemakers to hang around freely in this square," Erdogan told local party leaders. "We will clean the square."

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Nearly two weeks of protests across the nation have shaped up as perhaps the biggest test in the 10-year rule of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan — who protesters say is increasingly authoritarian, a charge that he and his allies strongly deny.

President Abdullah Gul, seen by many as a more moderate voice, said the government could not tolerate more of the unrest that has disrupted daily life for nearly two weeks, but authorities would listen to protesters' grievances.

"I am hopeful that we will surmount this through democratic maturity," Gul told reporters. "If they have objections, we need to hear them, enter into a dialogue. It is our duty to lend them an ear."

It was unclear exactly who would be taking part in the meeting scheduled for 4 p.m. (1300 GMT) at Erdogan's office in Ankara, and whether the meeting will have an impact in brokering an end to the protests.

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Massive plumes of tear gas billowed upward, and police fired water cannons Tuesday night.

It was the latest sign that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government has run out of patience after 12 days of unrest in Turkey's largest city and beyond.

Several people were being placed into ambulances during the latest clashes, which have trained an international spotlight on Turkey's democracy.

The protests have swelled from a peaceful demonstration first aimed to stop developers from cutting down trees in a park into nationwide disturbances.

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The police raid, which came on the 12th day of nationwide protests, sparked clashes with groups of protesters well into the afternoon. Most protesters fled into the adjacent Gezi Park, where hundreds have been camping out to stop a developers from cutting down trees in the park.

A peaceful demonstration against the park's redevelopment has morphed into a test of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan' authority. Amid Tuesday's clashes, Erdogan made it more than clear that he had come to the end of his tolerance.

"To those who ... are at Taksim and elsewhere taking part in the demonstrations with sincere feelings: I call on you to leave those places and to end these incidents and I send you my love. But for those who want to continue with the incidents I say: 'It's over.' As of now we have no tolerance for them," Erdogan said, speaking in the capital, Ankara.

"Not only will we end the actions, we will be at the necks of the provocateurs and terrorists and no one will get away with it," he added.

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Recep Tayyip Erdogan made the most inflammatory of his speeches as he arrived in the capital, Ankara. Erdogan belittled the protesters, again calling them "capulcu," the Turkish word for looters or vandals. He made his speech in Ankara on an open-top bus, which then drove into the city in a motorcade.

"If you look in the dictionary, you will see how right a description this is," Erdogan said, speaking to thousands of supporters who greeted him at the airport. "Those who burn and destroy are called capulcu. Those who back them are of the same family."

The increasingly fiery tone could inflame tensions, with protesters in both Ankara and the country's largest city, Istanbul, remaining on the streets. Protests have been held in at least 78 cities across the country so far. On two occasions, including one in the southern city of Adana Saturday night, clashes have been reported between Erdogan supporters and protesters.

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In the first extensive public show of support since anti-government protests erupted last week, more than 10,000 supporters cheered Recep Tayyip Erdogan with rapturous applause outside Istanbul's international airport.

Despite earlier comments that suggested he could be softening his stand, Erdogan delivered a fiery speech on his return from a four-day trip to North Africa. "These protests that are bordering on illegality must come to an end as of now," he said.

Tens of thousands of protesters have held demonstrations that have spread to dozens of cities across Turkey, sparked by the violent police reaction last Friday to what started out as a small protest against a plan to develop Istanbul's central Taksim Square.

Since then, three people have died — two protesters and a policeman — and thousands have been wounded. One protester is on life support in a hospital in Ankara.

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Gov. Huseyin Avni Cos said the officer died in a hospital Thursday after falling into the underpass that was still under construction in Adana, on the Mediterranean coast, the previous night. He was trying to break up protests there.

Two protesters have been reported killed in protests that have erupted in some 70 cities, and one person is on life support in a hospital in Ankara. The Turkish Human Rights Foundation said some 4,300 people were hurt or sought medical care for the effects of tear gas.

The government says dozens of police officers have been injured.

The protests were sparked by the police breakup of a sit-in to prevent the demolition of a park in central Istanbul, but it spiraled into rallies by thousands denouncing what they say is the government's increasingly authoritarian form of governing and its meddling in lifestyles. They are also angered at what human rights groups have said is excessive use of force to disperse the protests.

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Protesting Turkish Airlines attendants would like to direct your attention to the front of the plane.

In a YouTube clip from Turkey, a group of protesters, each wearing Guy Fawkes masks, give a coordinated demonstration—not for safety, but for their rights as workers.

The video appears to feature striking Turkish Airlines employees, who have made their struggle part of the enormous anti-government protests that have engulfed Turkey. According to one copy of the video, the protesters stand in front of Turkish Airlines headquarters.

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I found the lady in the red dress a problematic icon for the unfolding events in Gezi Park. Not because she was doing anything wrong. Nor was the scene unrepresentative. With the benefit of hindsight her unresisting pose, arms by her side against an ostensibly unprovoked attack by a policeman seems perfectly to have foretold the waves of violence visited on unarmed protesters on the streets of Turkey’s cities in the days since. What troubled me was not the photograph itself but the caption beneath it, which would have its readers believe this was a fight all about trees. This compelling image seemed to be having much success in disseminating the tree narrative. By the 29th of May, the photo was everywhere. In the best tradition of Turkish churnalism, those few who reported the incident reprinted Reuters’ incidental analysis wholesale, even after the protests had plainly grown beyond the issue of the park’s redevelopment.

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