Erdogan issues threat on Turkey’s protests
ANKARA, Turkey — In a series of increasingly belligerent speeches to cheering supporters Sunday, Turkey’s prime minister demanded an end to the 10-day antigovernment protests that have spread across the country, saying those who do not respect the government will pay.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his patience was running out with the protesters, who have occupied Istanbul’s Taksim Square for more than a week and have held hundreds of demonstrations in dozens of cities across the country.
Erdogan’s increasingly fiery tone could inflame tensions, with tens of thousands of anti-government protesters in the country’s largest city, Istanbul, and thousands in the capital, Ankara, remaining on the streets. On two occasions, including one in the southern city of Adana on Saturday night, clashes have been reported between Erdogan supporters and protesters. He said he plans to bring out his supporters for rallies in Ankara and Istanbul next weekend.
Protests have been held in 78 cities across the country since May 31, sparked by a violent police crackdown on a peaceful protest objecting to the redevelopment of Taksim Square and its Gezi Park.
They have since morphed into a general denunciation of what many see as Erdogan’s increasingly authoritarian ways after a decade in power, and as an attempt to impose his conservative, religious mores in a country governed by secular laws.
The protests have attracted a diverse crowd from all social backgrounds and age groups.
Three people have died, including a police officer in Adana who fell onto an underpass under construction while chasing demonstrators. More than 4,300 protesters have sought medical treatment, human-rights groups have said.
“We showed patience but our patience has its limits,” Erdogan told a crowd of thousands of party supporters who turned out to cheer his arrival at Ankara airport on Sunday, in the third of about seven speeches given through the afternoon and evening.
Looking much like a candidate on a campaign trail, Erdogan delivered speeches at two airports, a sports hall, two Ankara districts and from atop a bridge before heading to his party headquarters.