Turkey’s PM sticks to combative stance against protests

ANKARA, TURKEY—Turkey’s prime minister took a combative stance on his closely watched return to the country early Friday, telling supporters who thronged to greet him that the protests that have swept the country must come to an end.

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 an Istanbul 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 immediately,” he said.

Erdogan’s reaction has been seen as decisive in determining whether the demonstrations fizzle out or rage on. His tough tone could be an attempt not to appear weak to the base that has helped him win three landslide elections.

Rights groups say thousands of people have been injured in the demonstrations. Three people have died — two protesters and a police officer.

The protests have attracted tens of thousands of people from all walks of life who criticize Erdogan for what they say is an increasingly arrogant and autocratic nature — charges he rejects.

“They say I am the prime minister of only 50 per cent. It’s not true. We have served the whole of the 76 million from the east to the west,” he said at the airport, referring to his election win in 2011, when he took 50 per cent of the vote.

Speaking before leaving Tunisia to fly back to Istanbul, Erdogan had attempted more of a balancing act, appearing to moderate his tone in an effort not to further inflame protesters.

Those comments don’t appear to have swayed many of the thousands of protesters who thronged central Istanbul’s Taksim Square for a sixth day Thursday. More than 10,000 others filled a busy street in a middle-class area of Ankara.

“I do not believe his sincerity,” said protester Hazer Berk Buyukturca.

The protests started last week over objections to Erdogan’s plan to uproot the square’s Gezi Park to make way for a replica Ottoman barracks and shopping mall. Police’s extensive use of tear gas and water cannons outraged many and sent thousands flooding into the square to support what had, until then, been a small protest.

In Tunisia, Erdogan claimed terrorists had gotten involved in the protests, saying an outlawed left-wing militant group that carried out a suicide bombing on the U.S. Embassy in Ankara in February was taking part.

He also stuck to his determination that Taksim Square would be redeveloped — although he said the plan would include the planting of trees and the construction of a theatre and opera.

Original Article
Source: thestar.com
Author: Suzan Fraser