Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has called on demonstrators protesting the demolition of Taksim Gezi Park to end their mobilization, without back-peddling on the Artillary Barracks project that initially sparked the protests.“I'm warning those who came there with honest feelings - they have been subject to illegal groups, they should not comply with them. I plead that they immediately end this protest,” Erdoğan said June 1 in a speech at the 20th congress of Turkey's Exporters Assembly.
He described the demonstrations as “ideological” rather than “environmental.” “Nobody has the right to raise tensions with the excuse that trees are being cut down,” he said, claiming that the opposition was “manipulating” the protests.
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Erdoğan ended his speech with an ominous warning to main opposition Republican People's Party (AKP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who is set to deliver a speech in Istanbul's Beşiktaş district before moving to Taksim. “If you use provocative words, our people will never forgive you. If it comes down to making a meeting, if you gather 100,000 people, I can gather a million,” he said.
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