'We have not responded to punches with punches. From now on security forces will respond differently,' Turkish PM says
Protesters at the
entrance to Gezi Park, which Istanbul's governor has ordered them to
clear for their own safety. Photograph: Sedat Suna/EPA
Turkey's prime minister defied a growing wave of international criticism on Wednesday and issued a chilling warning to the protesters who have captured central Istanbul for a fortnight, declaring that the demonstrations against his rule would be over within 24 hours.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's ultimatum, which he said was conveyed to his police chief and interior minister, ratcheted up the tension in Turkey after a relatively calm day following the mass teargas attacks by riot police in Istanbul city centre on Tuesday evening.
"We have not responded to punches with punches. From now on security forces will respond differently," Erdoğan said after meeting a team said to be representing the protesters for the first time. "This issue will be over in 24 hours."
The sense of a looming denouement at Gezi Park off Taksim Square in central Istanbul was reinforced when a deputy leader of Erdoğan's ruling Justice and Development party (AKP) said the park had to be cleared of demonstrators as soon as possible.
Thousands of protesters again gathered at the park yesterday, with phalanxes of riot police marshalling nearby.
The ruling party's deputy chairman and government Hüseyin Çelik added that a city-wide referendum could be held on the initial issue that sparked the wave of national protest – whether the park should be demolished to make way for a shopping mall and a replica of an old military barracks.
The belligerent statement, contrasting with more conciliatory language from President Abdullah Gül, who urged dialogue with legitimate peaceful protesters, the vast majority of the tens of thousands who have taken to the streets over the past two weeks.
The sense of a final showdown was reinforced by Istanbul's governor, Hüseyin Avni Mutlu, who ordered the protesters to clear the park for their own "safety".
"Families should take their children out of there," he warned.
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Turkish government open to referendum to end protests
Protesters sleep on a bench at the Gezi Park in Istanbul, Turkey. Riot
police fired tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets in day-long
clashes that lasted into the early hours Wednesday. Photo: AP
Despite the offer, protesters continued to converge on Istanbul’s Taksim Square, the epicentre of repeated clashes between riot police firing tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets.
Turkey’s government on Wednesday offered a first concrete gesture aimed
at ending nearly two weeks of street protests, proposing a referendum on
a development project in Istanbul that triggered demonstrations that
have become the biggest challenge to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan’s 10-year tenure.
Despite the offer, protesters continued to converge on Istanbul’s Taksim
Square, the epicentre of repeated clashes between riot police firing
tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets, and stone-throwing youths
for 13 days an early sign that the proposal hadn’t defused the
demonstrators’ concerns.
Word of such a referendum came after Mr. Erdogan hosted talks with a
small group of activists. Many civil society groups behind the protests
boycotted those talks in the capital, Ankara, saying they weren’t
invited and that the attendees didn’t represent them.
The discussion was the first sign that Mr. Erdogan was looking for an
exit from the showdown, and came hours after some European leaders
expressed concern about strong-arm Turkish police tactics and hopes that
the prime minister would soften his stance.
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WORLD BULLETIN
Updating:
13:26, 12 June 2013 Wednesday
The headscarfed mother, infant attacked by Gezi Park protestors
A report has been published about the mother who was attacked by a mob of Gezi Park protestors for wearing a headscarf. Both mother and infant suffered physical injury.
World Bulletin/News Desk
The Taksim Gezi protests, which began with a small group with environmental concerns, have turned into nation-wide protests which have resulted in groups violently attacking people throughout Turkey.
The efforts by the secularist-nationalist fronts, which have provided direct support to the protests, to provoke the crowds and polarize society have reached an appalling scale. One mortifying case has been the attack on the daughter-in-law of an AK Party mayor of a township in Istanbul as she was walking with her 6 month old baby.
Suffering from trauma, the mother whose entire body is bruised has been unable to nurse her infant since the attack.
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