Turkish PM defiant as protests continue

Turkish prime minister Tayyip Erdogan told a rally of thousands of supporters that his patience with anti- government protests had its limits, as tens of thousands flooded an Istanbul square demanding his resignation.

The majority Muslim but constitutionally secular nation has been shaken by a week of its fiercest protests in decades, unrest which has exposed fault lines between a religiously conservative heartland fiercely supportive of Erdogan and a secular middle class who fear creeping authoritarianism.

Addressing crowds of cheering followers at Ankara airport — one of six rallies planned for yesterday — Erdogan accused the protesters of drinking beer in mosques and insulting women wearing headscarves — both accusations likely to anger supporters.

“With our government, our party and most importantly our nation, it is we who have defended, and are most strongly defending democracy, law and freedoms,” he told crowds.

“We were patient, we will be patient, but there is an end to patience,” he said, to chants of “Rich people of Istanbul, evacuate Gezi Park immediately”.

At a rival rally at Gezi Park in Istanbul’s Taksim Square, where riot police first clashed with protesters a week ago, tens of thousands chanted for Erdogan to resign. The crowd included secularists, leftists, nationalists and other groups opposed to Erdogan, who has won three election victories since 2002.

Erdogan suggested Turkey was at a historic moment.

“Today we are not at May 27, 1960, nor are we at Sept 12, 1980, nor are we at Feb 28, 1997,” he said, referring to two coups led by a staunchly secular military and a third in which an Islamist-led government was forced to resign.

“Today, we are exactly where we were on Apr 27, 2007,” he said, referring to the election of Abdullah Gul to the presidency, a post seen as guardian of the state’s secular foundations, despite his history in political Islam.

It was seen by supporters of the AK Party, founded by Erdogan and Gul in 2001, as a final victory over a military that had toppled four governments in four decades.

What began as a campaign against government plans to build over Gezi Park spiralled into an unprecedented display of public anger over the perceived authoritarianism of Erdogan and his Islamist-rooted AK Party.

Police fired teargas and water cannon at protesters night after night in Istanbul and Ankara last week, in clashes that have left three dead and close to 5,000 injured.