KAYSERI, Turkey: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan addressed thousands of cheering supporters in the conservative stronghold of Kayseri yesterday, appealing to grassroots followers after weeks of often violent protest against him and his government.
A sea of flags filled the main square of this industrial city in Anatolia’s pious heartland. A giant portrait of Erdogan hung from the ramparts of the ancient castle alongside that of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the revered founder of modern Turkey.
The rally was held to urge voters to back his ruling AK Party before municipal polls next March, but the blunt-talking 59-year-old harangued opponents and cast three weeks of widespread unrest as a story of “us” against “them”.
The protests have underlined divisions in Turkish society between religious conservatives who form the bedrock of Erdogan’s support, and more liberal Turks who have swelled the numbers of peaceful demonstrators. “They say they are educated, they are artists, they are the rich, they know everything, they understand it all,” he said from on stage, against a backdrop of the snow-capped Mount Erciyes some 25km south of the city.
“They think their vote is not equal to the votes of Ahmet or Mehmet or the shepherd in Kayseri. They have enjoyed their whiskies on the banks of the Bosphorus,” he added, elicting boos from many in a crowd of more than 15,000. reuters
