ISTANBUL: Demonstrators retreated from an Istanbul protest square yesterday after a night of running battles with riot police as Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan clamped down on mass demos against his Islamic-rooted government.
By late afternoon, hundreds of officers armed with riot shields and backed by water cannon trucks were clustered along the eastern side of the square. Just a stone’s throw away, demonstrators huddled up in Gezi Park but there were no fresh confrontations.
Office workers, tourists and curious passers-by milled around the square in a relaxed mood, some posing for pictures with smiling police, after a large clean-up operation cleared the site of stray tear gas canisters, anti-Erdogan banners and makeshift barricades.
The premier, meanwhile, was meeting with several protest leaders but many demonstrators said Tuesday’s unexpected crackdown on Taksim Square, which had seen no police presence since June 1, had made them lose faith in any dialogue. “We don’t accept it,” said Gezi Park protester Anessa, a 29-year-old photographer, complaining that the government had cherry-picked the groups invited to the meeting.
The nationwide unrest first erupted after police cracked down heavily on May 31 on a campaign to save Gezi Park from redevelopment, spiralling into mass displays of anger against Erdogan.
Four people, including a policeman, have died in the unrest and nearly 5,000 demonstrators have been injured, tarnishing Turkey’s image as a model of Islamic democracy. Erdogan, seen as increasingly authoritarian, has taken a tough line on the demonstrators, many of whom are young and middle-class. On Tuesday, he warned his patience had run out.
“We won’t show any more tolerance,” he told cheering lawmakers from his Justice and Development Party (AKP) in a speech broadcast live on television. Hours later, Taksim Square resembled a battleground as police fired volleys of tear gas to disperse tens of thousands chanting “Erdogan, resign!” and “Resistance!”
The capital Ankara also saw renewed clashes overnight as riot police used gas, pepper spray and water cannon against thousands of protesters near the US embassy. Some threw rocks in response. While expectations were low for a quick resolution to the conflict, President Abdullah Gul yesterday said Erdogan’s meeting with demonstrators was a sign of the country’s “democratic maturity”. “People take to the streets here like in the most developed countries in Europe,” he said, adding that he was confident Turkey would “overcome the trouble”.
Police did not intervene in Gezi Park overnight, where volunteers offered first aid to victims of the clashes, though many protesters abandoned their tents after clouds of acrid smoke drifted in from Taksim. While the scene in the park was more subdued than on previous days, when a carnival-like atmosphere reigned, law student Fulya Dagli, 21, said the Taksim Square crackdown had only made protesters more determined.
“People are learning not to be scared of the government. That’s something we gained and can’t give up again.”
In a clear sign that police had reclaimed Taksim Square, they hung two massive Turkish flags from a nearby building as well as a large portrait of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the father of modern Turkey, whose image has also been adopted by the protesters.
As they unfurled the symbols, some officers chanted: “Our blood for this flag”.Confident in his enduring popularity, Erdogan, in power since 2002, has urged loyalists to respond to the demonstrators by voting for the AKP in local polls next year. His AKP has won three elections in a row and took nearly half the vote in 2011, having presided over strong economic growth.
The first campaign rallies will be staged in Ankara and Istanbul this weekend and are expected to gather tens of thousands of party faithful. Turkey, a country of 76 million at the crossroads of East and West, is a key strategic partner in the region for the United States and other Western allies. Many of them have criticised Erdogan’s handling of the crisis.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton urged Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to abide by European democratic standards yesterday as Germany and Italy warned a violent crackdown on protesters could harm Turkey’s bid for membership of the bloc.
Delivering her first public statement on Turkey’s troubles in a speech to the European Parliament, Ashton said Erdogan’s response with protesters must be “engagement not antagonism.”
“This is an important moment for Turkey. A chance for it to renew its commitment to European values,” she said. “I am convinced it can meet this challenge.”
Recalling that EU ministers are to decide this month whether to open a new chapter for the first time in several years in Ankara’s stalled bid for membership, Ashton said: “Turkey as a candidate country needs to aspire to the highest possible democratic practices”. Of the 35 so-called policy chapters EU candidates must negotiate, Turkey has opened talks on only 13. The European Union must not pull back from Turkey despite concerns over Erdogan’s handling of the protests, Ashton said. “This is not the moment to disengage from Turkey but to engage more closely. And for Turkey to engage more closely with the EU too.” Turkey’s efforts to join the EU formally started in 2005 but are snagged due to human rights concerns and the row over EU-member Cyprus, whose northern third is occupied by Turkey. AFP
