Police, protesters clash in Ankara; masses gather in Istanbul

After a brief lull Sunday morning, Turkish police reportedly skirmished with protesters in Ankara as thousands massed in Istanbul’s flashpoint, Taksim Square.

As tensions appeared to build steam once again, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday afternoon accused opposition parties of stirring up the riots — which he termed “provocations” — in the past several days, Today’s Zaman reported.

“Like with past governments, we are again witnessing efforts to create chaos to subdue the government. The main opposition and others who understood that they will not gain a victory at the ballot box, are provoking these protests,” Today’s Zaman quoted Erdogan saying.

“Who will pay for the shattered glass, broken window frames? Is it going to be the CHP [the Republican People’s Party], which supported those who terrorized the city?” he asked.

Louis Fishman, an American researcher living in Istanbul, told The Times of Israel that the massed protesters in Taksim on Sunday were “extremely jubilant” because the police withdrew from the square over the course of the previous day. By Sunday afternoon, the number of protesters in Taksim swelled to approximately 30,000, with close to another 100,000 trying to enter the plaza, according to Today’s Zaman writer Mahir Zeylanov. 

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Emre Kizilkaya, the International Press Institute’s deputy president for the Turkish National Committee, however, said tension may be mounting after Erdogan referred to the protesters as “a few marauders,” according to Hürriyet.  

Despite the ferocious opposition to razing Gezi Park, adjacent to Taksim Square, which spiraled into mass demonstrations after a brutal police crackdown, Erdogan was insistent that construction continue. He said that building a shopping mall on top of the park was not a conclusive decision.

“There is no conclusive [decision to make] a shopping mall here. Maybe we will make a city museum there or a piece that that will put different activities in place,” Erdogan said.

The prime minister dismissed accusations of dictatorship saying, “I am not the master of the people. Dictatorship does not run in my blood or in my character. I am the servant of the people.”

Protests in Istanbul and several other Turkish cities wound down briefly on Sunday after two days of fierce clashes following a police crackdown on a peaceful gathering.

On Saturday, heavy clashes between rioters and police were reported in Ankara, while in Istanbul police fired tear gas at demonstrators who set fires outside the office of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Protests were also reported in Izmir.

Amnesty International said two people were killed in the clashes. Over 900 people were arrested, according to the Interior Ministry. Medics told Reuters 1,000 people were injured in Istanbul and several hundred more elsewhere in the previous two days of clashes.

On Friday, police fired tear gas and turned on water cannons at angry demonstrators, some of whom threw rocks and bottles on their march toward Taksim. In an area normally abuzz with tourists, stores were shuttered and protesters fled into luxury hotels for shelter.

Turkish authorities later removed barricades and allowed thousands of demonstrators into the square in an effort to calm tension. Sounding defiant even as he bowed to protesters and pulled back police, Erdogan promised to stick to the government’s redevelopment plans — which protesters fear will remove one of the few green spaces in the sprawling city.

Turkish President Abdullah Gül called on the government and security authorities Saturday to act with sensitivity, common sense, and “maturity” to avoid the violent scenes Turkey has witnessed over the last several days, Hurriyet reported. The Turkish Interior Ministry on Saturday warned that police officers who would be found to have used tear gas abusively would be prosecuted. 

At Taksim, protesters chanted slogans against Erdogan’s government and called on him to resign, as the demonstration turned into a wider protest against the prime minister, who is seen as becoming increasingly authoritarian, and spread to other Turkish cities.

By Sunday morning, Taksim was mostly empty, with scattered groups of people milling around the trash-strewn plaza against a backdrop of prominent signs. NTV television reported that protesters built barricades there to keep police from returning.