Erdogan condemns Gezi protesters
Turkey’s prime minister has lashed out at protesters behind a two-week sit-in at an Istanbul park in a boisterous speech to tens of thousands of his supporters.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan told supporters from his Justice and Development party that they represented the “silent masses” while inveighing against those behind a “plot” against his government.
@ufukulutas: Aerial view of @RT_Erdogan 's rally in Ankara v @kemalozturk2020 #buguenguenlerdenankara @camanpour pic.twitter.com/BgfnZcmTsb
— Ufuk Ulutaş 🇹🇷 (@ufukulutas) June 15, 2013
Mr Erdogan has previously said that today’s rally and another planned tomorrow in Istanbul were not designed as “an alternative” to the demonstrations at Istanbul’s Gezi Park, but part of early campaigning for local elections next March.
Earlier today, park protesters vowed to press on with their sit-in, defying government appeals and a warning from Mr Erdogan for an end to the stand-off.
``Over the last 17 days, I know that in all corners of Turkey, millions and billions have prayed for us,'' Mr Erdogan said, as he moved about the stage. ``You saw the plot that was being carried out, the trap being set.
“You are here, and you are spoiling the treacherous plot, the treacherous attack.” he said, insisting unspecified groups both inside and outside Turkey had conspired to mount the protests centred on Istanbul – and that he had the documents to prove it.
The crowd chanted in response: “Stand straight, don’t bow, the people are with you.”
A violent police crackdown on what began as an environmental protest over a redevelopment plan at Gezi Park has sparked a much broader expression of discontent about Mr Erdogan’s government, and what many say is his increasingly authoritarian manner of governing.
Mr Erdogan, who was elected with 50% of the vote for his third term in 2011, vehemently rejects the accusations. But the protests put some of the greatest political pressure on him in his 10-year tenure.
In his speech, he focused on some protesters who have clashed with polices – at times by throwing stones and firebombs.
“There is no breaking and burning here, we are people of love,” Mr Erdogan said. “If people want to see the real Turkey, they should come here to Sincan.”
Mr Erdogan already has offered to defer to a court ruling on the legality of the government’s contested park redevelopment plan, and floated the possibility of a referendum on it. But concessions over the park seem to no longer be enough.
Earlier this week, Mr Erdogan ordered the adjacent Taksim Square to be cleared of protesters.
Police moved past improvised barricades on Tuesday, firing tear gas and rubber bullets and using water cannons to fend off small groups of demonstrators throwing stones, bottles and firebombs.
Tear gas was also fired through the trees into the park, although the protesters were not removed.
Taksim Square itself returned to normal right after the end of the police operation early on Wednesday. Traffic returned, the protest banners and flags were taken down, and cafes set up their chairs and tables outside again. At night, demonstrators still spill out from the park down the steps, while riot police keep watch from the edges.
Tayfun Kahraman, a Taksim Solidarity member who met with Erdogan in last-ditch talks yesterday, said the protesters had agreed to continue their sit-in at Gezi Park after holding a series of discussions about their response to the pledges made by Mr Erdogan.
“We shall remain in the park until all of our democratic rights are recognised,” he told The Associated Press, insisting that four key demands laid out by protesters in the talks had not been met.
The group has demanded that apart from the park being left intact, anyone responsible for excessive police force must resign or be fired, all activists detained in the protests should be released, and the police use of tear gas and other non-lethal weapons be banned.
“As of today, with the dynamism and strength that comes from the struggle that has spread to the whole country, and even the world, we shall continue the resistance against all kinds of injustice and victimisation in our country,” Taksim Solidarity said in a statement posted on its website and later read out in the park.
