Turkey in turmoil as anti Government protests increase

What started out as a peaceful demonstration 4 days ago against the demolition of Gezi Park, one of the few green spaces in Istanbul to make way for a shopping mall, has mushroomed into an all encompassing mass protest against the government of Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan who has been in charge in Turkey for 12 years. The ruling AKP party has become more authoritarian and hard line in recent years and the fear has been that Turkey’s secular stance is being eroded away in favour of more Islamist policies. Even recently the Turkish government brought in a new law banning the sale of alcohol between 22.00 and 06.00 hrs inflaming tensions in the more Western leaning Turkish cities of Istanbul and Izmir and the coastal resorts which rely on the tourist trade for much of their income.

Turkey was formed on 29th October 1923 at 20.30hrs in Ankara. The chart (above) has no planets in earth, and we have 4 planets in air and 5 in water. The Turks are an emotional people not only shown by the amount of planets in water signs, but also by the Moon Pluto conjunction straddling the Cancerian ascendant. They are hugely proud and protective of their nation. We find Uranus at the top of the chart as part of a grand water trine. Turkey was formed after a war of independence to expel foreign forces from Constantinople and Smyrna (now Istanbul and Izmir) in the west of the country, lead by Mustafa Kamal Ataturk. The grand trine shows that conflict, Uranus conjunct the Midheaven shows the rebellion taking the leadership through a social movement (Venus) via a brutal war (Pluto).

We have a very full 5th house and the Turks are huge sports fans and culture and dance are still very important in daily life, however Saturn here also shows restrictions. Conjunct to Mercury and trine to the Moon, we see that any criticism (Mercury) of the state (Saturn) by the people (Moon) will be cracked down upon heavily. It also shows that any communication, via mobile phone, or internet will ultimately be under the strict control of those in charge.

Turkey is a country of huge contrasts. For example Turkey traditionally is a Muslim nation, however with Uranus in the 9th house in Pisces (the spiritual sign), it shows very much a secular take it or leave it attitude with regard to faith. We find Neptune in 3rd house in Leo of the press and media square to outgoing Jupiter and Venus. The press and TV in Turkey is very colourful and full of sensationalist stories of who is going out with who (5th house). The Turks are very much a nation obsessed with affairs of the heart. Their attitude to alcohol is also interesting, the square shows a very liberal attitude to drink, something you would not find in other countries in the region.

Mars in the 4th house of the land and home show a violent underbelly to the country, especially with regard to the Kurdish minority. Mars makes a destructive square to Pluto and the Cancerian ascendant. This is an in house problem for the Turkish nation, and something that will forever be there for the police and military to deal with. Underground action against the people and the nation by those who oppose the national view of those in control will always unfortunately tend to end in bloodshed.

The protest came as the transiting North Node made a conjunction to the Turkish 5th house Venus. Venus rules social places as well as trees and parks and the environment and in the 5th house showing Gezi Park as a space of entertainment and fun as well as for children (also rules by the 5th house). That Venus in the natal chart makes a square to Neptune, an indication of the collective so this twist of fate was waiting to happen as the Nodes came calling. At this time Venus and Mercury were moving into Cancer and hitting the Turkish Ascendant and here were the collective gathering in the park to protect the environment (Venus) and freedom of speech (Mercury) and the future of the country in true Cancerian style.

Also in the 5th house you can see transiting Saturn, the planet of structure and harsh words, the authoritarian voice of the zodiac sitting on the Turkish Sun and here was the edict from the government that their rule was law and nothing was going to stand in the way of this building project and development (Saturn). You can also see that transiting Neptune is trine to this conjunction in the house of beliefs and freedom, so there was a clash brewing here. Trines I find are very underestimated in bringing difficult issues to a head as the energy flows incredibly easily. If that energy happens to be negative energy it can multiply very quickly and as you have seen across Turkey, this is what has happened, the touch paper was lit and the massed opposition ranks of people who oppose Erdogan’s policies stood up to let their views be known.

There was more fuel to this fire if you see that Pluto’s ruler Scorpio sits encased in the Turkish 5th house too bringing another connection to this house. Natal Pluto conjunct to the Ascendant, the brutal and authoritarian power hidden beneath the surface in the Turkish 1st house is under attack from the Uranus Pluto square, bringing potential transformational change and a revolutionary feel to the country. Neptune is also making a trine to the Cancerian Ascendant, so not only the masses (Neptune) after the Prime Minister (Sun), they will also have an eye on the direction the whole country is taking (Ascendant) and the ideological beliefs (Neptune) that underpin it (9th house).

Today, Mars is making a trine to the Turkish natal Mars, so I suspect the violence will continue apace and with transiting Jupiter trine to the Saturn/Mercury conjunction the call for freedom and liberation of free speech and of authoritarian rule will continue too, albeit from behind the veil of the 12th house, the underground resistance in the face of media crackdowns and controls.

With transiting Pluto on the descendant and Uranus in the 10th house of Government and the ruling classes, the potential for a big change in the way Turkey was governed was always going to happen however the Lunar eclipse of the 25th April beautifully predicted this crisis as it landed bang on the Turkish Sun in that contentious 5th house where all the trouble is stemming from. Lunar eclipses are often emotional in nature and in a national chart they can signify the people (Moon) this time eclipsing the leader (Sun). If I were Recep Tayyip Erdogan, I would now be diving for cover as his days as leader may be numbered…