TURKEY: Protesters remain defiant following Erdogan speech

Record ID: 217654

  • Title: TURKEY: Protesters remain defiant following Erdogan speech
  • Date: 7th June 2013
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS WATCHING (SOUNDBITE) (Turkey) PROTESTER ERDINC CALIN SAYING: "We will try to continue as long as we can. I have been here for four days. Some of our friends have been here for 10 days. There are some friends who have been here from the beginning. So it doesn't matter what he says we will keep on staying here." PROTESTER SETTING UP SLEEPING TENT PROT
  • Embargoed: 22nd June 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAAKPBVQU64N4PRUBQJO5KKOLJB
  • Story Text: Protesters remained defiant on Friday (June 7) after Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan called on Turks to distance themselves from "lawless protests" and said accusations of the excessive use of police force during days of unrest were being investigated.
    Addressing thousands of supporters at Istanbul airport after returning from a trip to North Africa, Erdogan said the protesters had looted shops and damaged businesses and urged his supporters not to be drawn into the violence.
    Meanwhile, protesters danced and sang throughout the night in expectation of Erdogan's arrival.
    Demonstrators in Taksim Square said they would never give up the park and would defend their rights.
    "Our reaction has nothing to do with the attitude of the Prime Minister. We have some rights and we owned some freedoms in Turkey. Now they are taking them from us. We are here to stand against this and we will be here for as long as they try and take our freedom away from us. We will never leave here and no threat or authoritarian act can change our minds," said one protester Enis Cevahiroglu .
    "We will try to continue as long as we can. I have been here for four days. Some of our friends have been here for 10 days. There are some friends who have been here from the beginning. So it doesn't matter what he says we will keep on staying here," added another protester Erdinc Calin.
    Erdogan addressed crowds from an open-top bus at Istanbul airport in a speech also broadcast live on television, as supporters, who had blocked roads to the airport for hours, chanted his name.
    Anti-government protesters also gathered in their thousands in central Istanbul and Ankara awaiting a speech that could appease or aggravate the crowds after a week of violent unrest.
    Some of the demonstrators in Istanbul's Taksim Square chanted "Tayyip resign", while others sang and danced. In Ankara's Kugulu Park, thousands chanted anti-government slogans, sang the national anthem and swigged on beer.
    What began as a campaign against planned construction on a leafy park in a corner of Taksim Square has grown into an unprecedented display of public anger over the perceived authoritarianism of Erdogan and his Islamist-rooted AK Party.
    Police backed by armoured vehicles and helicopters have clashed with groups of protesters night after night, leaving three dead and some 4,000 injured, while thousands of Erdogan's opponents have massed peacefully in Taksim, surrounded by barricades of torn-up paving stones and street signs.
    Erdogan has so far struck a defiant tone. Speaking in Tunis on Thursday, he condemned the "burn and destroy" tactics of some of those involved in the protests, and promised to press ahead with the plans for Taksim that triggered the unrest.
    He said that "terror groups", including one that claimed responsibility for a Feb. 1 bombing at the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, were manipulating the crowds. Seven foreigners were among those arrested, he said.
    The protesters are of a variety of political stripes, including far leftists, nationalists, environmentalists and secular Turks, and their numbers at Taksim have swollen at points to more than an estimated 100,000.
    But despite the unrest, Erdogan remains by far Turkey's most popular politician, his assertive style and common touch resonating with the conservative Islamic heartland.
    His AK Party has won an increasing share of the vote in three successive elections and holds around two thirds of the seats in parliament. A man who rarely bows to any opposition, he clearly has no intention of stepping down and there are no obvious rivals inside or outside his party.
    Still, he faces a challenge in calming the protests without appearing to lose face.
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