TURKEY: Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan tells thousands of supporters that his patience has its limits after days of anti-government protests, while tens of thousands gather for a rival rally in Ankara

Record ID: 217849

  • Title: TURKEY: Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan tells thousands of supporters that his patience has its limits after days of anti-government protests, while tens of thousands gather for a rival rally in Ankara
  • Date: 9th June 2013
  • Summary: ANKARA, TURKEY (JUNE 9, 2013) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) TURKISH PRIME MINISTER, TAYYIP ERDOGAN, SAYING: "I am calling on all the banks establishing this lobby, if you start a struggle against us, we will give as much as it gets."
  • Embargoed: 24th June 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA3H5V4GLFQE60BGPXYT33MD9O
  • Story Text: Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told thousands of cheering supporters on Sunday (June 9) that his patience had its limits after days of anti-government protests.
    Erdogan rallied his supporters in a string of defiant speeches as tens of thousands of anti-government demonstrators massed in Istanbul's central Taksim Square.

    "We were patient, we will be patient, but there is an end to patience," Erdogan told crowds gathered at Ankara airport chanting slogans including "We are ready to sacrifice our lives for you Tayyip".
    Erdogan has blamed the troubles on various groups of outsiders including what he calls an "interest rate lobby" of speculators pushing for high returns.
    The Prime Minister warned anyone involved in the lobby that the government would act against them.

    "I am calling on all the banks establishing this lobby, if you start a struggle against us, we will give as much as it gets," Erdogan said.

    "We have never given the opportunity to speculators. If we find you manipulating the stock exchange we will choke you."
    Still by far Turkey's most popular politician, Erdogan has pressed ahead with government business as usual despite a week of the fiercest political protests for decades.
    Tens of thousands massed again in Taksim, where riot police backed by helicopters and armoured vehicles first clashed with protesters a week ago, some chanting for Erdogan to resign.
    What began as a campaign against government plans to build over Gezi Park in the square spiralled into an unprecedented display of public anger over the perceived authoritarianism of Erdogan and his Islamist-rooted AK Party.
    Police fired teargas and water cannon at protesters night after night in Istanbul and Ankara last week, in clashes that have left three dead and close to 5,000 injured.
    The organisers of the initial protests in Taksim, calling themselves Taksim Solidarity, repeated their call for the redevelopment plans to be abandoned, police use of teargas to be banned, those responsible for police violence to be dismissed and bans on demonstrations to be lifted.
    Tens of thousands also gathered in Ankara airport for the Prime Minister's return after a week that has seen him travel on official business to North Africa before returning to Istanbul.
    Erdogan has made clear he has no intention of stepping aside, pointing to his AK Party's rising share of the vote in the past three elections, and the fact that he has no clear polititcal rival.
    He has enacted many democratic reforms, taming a military that toppled four governments in four decades, starting entry talks with the European Union and forging peace talks with Kurdish rebels to end a three-decade-old war.
    But in recent years, critics say his style, always forceful and emotional, has become authoritarian.
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