Protesters shout anti-government slogans
during a demonstration in Ankara June 3, 2013.
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan accused
anti-government protesters on Monday of walking
"arm-in-arm with terrorism", remarks that could
further inflame public anger after three days of
some of the most violent riots in decades.
(Reuters)
ANKARA, Turkey – A
22-year-old man died during an anti-government
protest in a city near the border with Syria and
officials gave conflicting reports on what
caused his death, as hundreds of riot police
backed by water cannons deployed around the
prime minister's office in the capital Tuesday.
Thousands have joined anti-government rallies
across Turkey since Friday, when police launched
a pre-dawn raid against a peaceful sit-in
protesting plans to uproot trees in Istanbul's
main Taksim Square. Since then, the
demonstrations by mostly secular-minded Turks
have spiraled into Turkey's biggest
anti-government disturbances in years, and have
spread to many of the biggest cities.
The Hatay province governor's office said the
man, Abdullah Comert, died in a hospital after
he was shot Monday during a demonstration in the
city of Antakya. It suggested, however, that he
may have been shot by demonstrators trying to
inflame tensions, saying police had been fired
on during the protest.
But the province's chief prosecutor said that
an autopsy showed Comert received a blow to the
head and there was no trace of a gunshot wound.
It said authorities had launched an
investigation into the death.
Clashes continued late into the night Monday
in Istanbul, Ankara and other cities, as people
voice their discontent with the 10-year rule of
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The Turkish Human Rights Association said
some 3,300 people nationwide were detained
during four days of protests, although most had
since been released. At least 1,300 people were
injured, the group said, although it said the
true figures were difficult to come by.
On Tuesday, hundreds of riot police backed by
water cannons were stationed around Ankara's
main square near the prime minister's office.
In an attempt to defuse the tensions,
President Abdullah Gul held a meeting in Ankara
with the deputy prime minister, Bulen Arinc.
Gul has praised the mostly peaceful
protesters as expressing their democratic
rights. Erdogan, meanwhile, has rejected the
protesters' demands for his resignation and
dismissed the demonstrations as the work of
Turkey's opposition.
Gul and Erdogan could face off next year in
Turkey's presidential election.
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