Turkish PM calls for calm following protests

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for calm on Monday, after a weekend of fierce anti-government protests, urging people not to be provoked by demonstrations he said had been organized by "extremist elements".

Erdogan described the protests as a temporary blip and angrily rejected comparisons with the "Arab Spring" uprisings.

Appearing defensive and angry on the fourth day of disturbances, he lashed out at reporters who asked whether the government had understood "the message" from protesters or whether he would soften his tone.

"What is the message? I want to hear it from you," Erdogan retorted.

"What can a softened tone be like? Can you tell me?" he said. He spoke to reporters before leaving on what was planned to be a four-day trip to Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.

The main Turkish stock index fell by 6.67 percent when markets reopened. The lira was also lower and bond yields rose.

"Be calm, relax, all this will be overcome," Erdogan said at Istanbul airport.

The anti-government protests entered their seventh day, spreading to 67 provinces across the country, including the capital Ankara and the coastal cities of Antalya and Izmir.

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets over the weekend and clashed with riot police firing tear gas, leaving hundreds of people injured.

For two days, thousands of people tried to attack Erdogan's office in Istanbul, and some protesters set fire to offices of the ruling Justice and Development Party.

The streets were calmer on Monday morning after another night of noisy protests and violence in Istanbul, Ankara and other cities.

Extremist elements

The unrest was sparked by protests against government plans to redevelop Istanbul's Taksim Square, long a rallying point for mass demonstrations, but widened into a broad show of defiance against the Justice and Development Party, known in Turkish as the AKP.

"This is a protest organized by extremist elements," Erdogan said. "The fact that the AKP has increased its vote at three elections in a row and has successfully won two referendums, shows how the people of this nation have embraced the AKP."

He added that Turkey's intelligence service is looking into possible links between the incidents in Taksim Square and foreign powers, accusing internal and foreign players of supporting the protests.

"Our intelligence work is ongoing to determine the foreign actors behind the protests. It is not possible to reveal their names. But we will have meetings with their heads," said Erdogan, adding that "those who advise us to be moderate must themselves first come to moderation".

Reuters-AP-Xinhua

(China Daily 06/04/2013 page11)