Zee Media Bureau
Ankara: Refusing to acknowledge the anti-government protests as an uprising against the regime, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan reportedly laid the blame on the opposition for provoking “his citizens.”
Erdogan said that the anti-government protests, that have been taking place from the past four days, cannot be called a Turkish Spring and blamed the extremists for organizing the protests, as per a BBC report.
One person has been killed, reports claim. The agitation, initially protesting plans to build against Istanbul park, soon spread to anti-government unrest.
Thousands of protesters continued demonstrating against the government on Sunday at Istanbul`s Taksim Square.
Over 10,000 people converged at Taksim Square on Sunday, shouting chants of "Dictator, resign!" and "victory, victory, victory" and clashed with police who in turn reacted with tear gas and water cannon.
The unrest was triggered three days ago on Friday when a peaceful sit-in to prevent the uprooting of trees at Taksim Square in Istanbul was met by a violent police crackdown.
Since then the unrest has spread across the country and the Turkish Doctors Association said the three days of demonstrations have left 1,000 people injured in Istanbul and 700 in Ankara.
About 7,000 people took part in protests in Ankara, the capital, that turned violent on Sunday, with demonstrators throwing fire bombs and police firing tear gas. Scores of protesters were detained.
Some protesters have compared Erdogan to a sultan and denounced him as a dictator. Scrambling to show he was unbowed and appealing to a large base of conservative Turks who support him, Erdogan delivered two speeches on Sunday and appeared in a television interview.
