It may be strange to hear for a person outside Turkey that people are protesting a government over a few trees and a park. But that is the diluted story.

The protests in Taksim Square go beyond a few trees in Gezi Park.

It is important to understand what is at stake and what the big deal is at Gezi Park. This brief document provides a short summary of the underlying issues so that you can place the protests into perspective.

[The destruction of Gezi Park] is the latest in a series of changes in Turkey. All these changes are aimed at changing the secular and democratic aspects of Turkey.

The Erdogan government has been targeting the secular basis of Turkey since it took office over 10 years ago.

One of the most important targets of the Erdogan government is the independent media. Very large numbers of newspaper journalist and TV commentators have been arrested for criticizing the government, and these journalists have been kept in prison without any charges filed.

This has resulted in a big suppression in the media. Journalists and commentators have completely stopped criticizing and commenting on important issues.

Due to this media suppression, important stories are not covered at all or are covered from the government’s perspective. This is one reason there has been a “media blackout” in Turkey about recent events.

The Erdogan government, as stated by the Prime Minister’s chief adviser Ibrahim Kalin, suggests it did not issue a media blackout. This is because it did not need to. There has been so much media suppression in recent years that the media has not even attempted to cover the protests at all.

As a result, when we turned on the TV this morning, we did not find any news about the protests. Instead, there were programs about how to control your diet. When we look out the windows, however, we can see a large number of protesters clashing with the police. Almost unreal and Orwellian-like, but it is true.

Due to this lack of coverage, the international media is also lacking an important information flow outside of social media. It is essential for the international community to make sure that the lack of information out of Turkey does not result in the same kind of coverage on these events that we see in Turkey.

Other changes being made by the Erdogan government include suppression of the historically secular military, judges, and the other members of the judicial system.

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