Saturday, June 1, 2013

Turkey PM urges end to protests amid clashes-video



Turkey police fire warning shots amid clashes

Turkey's PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to press ahead with plans to redevelopment a park in Istanbul which have sparked violent clashes.
Mr Erdogan said he would not yield to "wild extremists" but that police may have used "excessive" force.
Police have now withdrawn from Istanbul's Taksim Square, which has become the focus of the protests.
Correspondents say the local issue has spiralled into widespread anger over perceived "Islamisation" of Turkey.
Mr Erdogan has been in power since 2002 and some in Turkey have complained that his government is becoming increasingly authoritarian.

Turkish media reaction

Murat Yetkin in the in pro-secular, English-language daily Hurriyet says the "disproportionate" response of police to the protests "has managed to turn a pacifist and modest protest into a public protest movement".
Ali Bayramoglu, writing in the pro-government Islamist daily Yeni Safak asks how the authorities allowed the situation to get so bad. "If there is a public reaction, why won't it [the government] halt the project, even temporarily, and talk to the protestors?"
In Islamist daily Today's Zaman, Ihsan Yilmaz says that if the government does not listen to the protesters the park issue "may be the last straw and may pave the way for the eventual electoral loss of the city".





No comments:

Translate