USA TODAY International Edition
In Turkey, a growing divide
Prime minister speaks at supporters rally while government protesters try to reclaim square.
Turkey’s prime minister rallied hundreds of thousands of supporters Sunday as riot police battled anti- government protesters in neighborhoods across Istanbul and the capital of Ankara.
“This country isn’t just any country; you can’t hold a rally wherever you wish,” Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. “You can do that where it is allowed.”
Tear gas hung in the air in many central districts as armored police trucks used water cannon to try to disperse angry crowds intent on reaching Istanbul’s Taksim Square and recapturing Gezi Park, where po- lice forcefully evicted demonstrators Saturday evening.
As protesters traded rocks for tear gas and plastic bullets while chanting anti- government slogans, a crowd numbering more than 100,000 massed at a parade ground about 6 miles west of Istanbul’s center to hear the prime minister speak.
“These hundreds of thousands of people are not the ones who have burned and destroyed, these hundreds of thousands of people are not traitors like those who throw Molotov cocktails at my people,” Erdogan proclaimed to thunderous applause.
More than 100 people are believed to have been detained during Saturday night’s demonstrations.
Senior figures in Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party have warned that anyone who defies a ban on rallies would be considered a terrorist and treated accordingly.
“From now on, the state will unfortunately have to consider everyone who remains there a supporter or member of a terror organization,” Minister for European Union Affairs Egemen Bagis said. “The protests from now on will play into the hands of some separatist organizations that want to break the peace and prioritize vandalism and terrorism.”
Elected in 2002, Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party ( AK Party) has presided over a decade of economic and political prosperity and embarked on far- reaching democratic reforms that eliminated the political influence of Turkey’s once all- powerful military.
Erdogan’s legacy has been threatened by recent violence. At least four people — including a policeman — have died, according to Amnesty International. The Turkish Medical Association estimates more than 7,500 have been injured and on Sunday called on the government “to stop the barbaric violence immediately.”
At Sunday’s rally, foreign journalists were met with suspicion by AK Party supporters who said international media has exaggerated claims of police violence and been too sympathetic toward protesters. None of the supporters who talked with USA TODAY would give their last names and agreed to speak only reluctantly.