Turkey protests: Erdogan to meet Gezi Park delegation

BBC News online - 13 June 2013

Quentin Sommerville reports on the mood in Gezi Park

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is to meet a group of activists from Istanbul's Gezi Park.

Hours earlier he had issued a "final warning" to protesters to leave the park. The meeting has been described as a "last-ditch" attempt to defuse the situation.

The meeting is due to begin at 23:00 local time (20:00 GMT).
Clashes between police and protesters in the park and adjoining Taksim Square have continued for nearly two weeks.

Activists have said they will not leave until the government abandons plans to redevelop the park. Mr Erdogan's party has proposed a referendum on the issue.

Such a vote would not be legally binding but Mr Erdogan implied he would honour its outcome.
Speaking at a meeting of his ruling AK Party (AKP) in the capital, Ankara, earlier on Thursday, Mr Erdogan said: "Our patience is at an end. I am making my warning for the last time."

"I say to the mothers and fathers, please take your children in hand and bring them out," he added, going on to say that the park belonged not "to occupying forces but to the people."

On Wednesday, Mr Erdogan met a group of 11 people - including artists, architects and a social media specialist - to discuss the situation in Gezi Park.

But those in the park and Taksim Solidarity, an umbrella group seen as most representative of the protesters, said that delegation did not speak for them.

Gezi Park is a rare patch of green in Turkey's biggest city, and has been the focus of public anger.
Plans to redevelop it into a shopping centre were the initial spark for the protests.

The prime minister has previously branded the protesters there "extremists" and "looters", and said the demonstrations have been encouraged by foreign forces to undermine Turkey and its economy.
The suggestion of a public vote on the park's future is unlikely to appease many of the protesters still encamped there.

"There is already a court decision which orders the suspension of work in Gezi Park," said Tayfun Kahraman from Taksim Solidarity, one of the environmentalist groups fighting to save the area.
It was not even legal to consider a referendum on such an issue, since such votes could only be held on constitutional matters, he added.

"Are they going to ask us whether we approve of chopping down trees? What would the result change anyway?" 22-year-old student Arzu told AFP news agency.

1 June: Taksim Square becomes focus for protests over the development of Gezi Park after clashes with police.

It is not yet clear what failing to heed Prime Minister Erdogan's "final" warning would mean for the protesters. 

 

Some of those camped in the park have been waiting for news from city governor Huseyin Avni Mutlu, who has been assuring them for several days that police will not intervene, while urging them to leave so that "police can tackle marginal groups".

Several riot vehicles are still on standby in Taksim - a sign that police have no intention of abandoning the square they stormed on Tuesday.

Protesters fought back then, using stones and Molotov cocktails in reply to the police's tear gas and water cannons.

The police crackdown on protesters has drawn international concern, especially from Europe.
On Thursday, the European Parliament passed a non-binding resolution that "deplores the reactions of the Turkish Government and of Prime Minister Erdogan, whose unwillingness to take steps towards reconciliation, to apologise or to understand the reactions of a segment of the Turkish population have only contributed to further polarisation".

Mr Erdogan angrily dismissed the resolution shortly before it was passed.

Also on Thursday, White House spokesman Jay Carney said the US expects "the Turkish authorities to uphold these fundamental freedoms [of expression and assembly]."

Mr Carney also stressed that individuals should not be punished for exercising their rights, Reuters reports.

Five people have died and thousands injured since the protests began on 31 May.