The Turkish deputy prime minister has said that the army
could be deployed to halt protests that have swept the nation
over the past two weeks.
Bulent Arinc on Monday said the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK)
could be pressed into action if the police failed to restore
order.
"What is required of us is to stop if there is a protest
against the law. Here is the police, if not enough gendarme, if
not TSK," he said in a televised interview to the A Haber
channel.
The threat came as members of two union federations in Turkey
went on a one-day strike over the forced evictions of protesters
from Istanbul's Gezi Park a day earlier.
Labour groups representing doctors, engineers and dentists
are also said to have joined the strike on Monday. The striking
groups represent about 800,000 workers.
The Turkish Interior Minister Muammer Guler said the strike
was "illegal" and warned of police action.
The call for the strike came as police and protesters
clashed sporadically in Istanbul overnight following a
weekend of scuffles in the city.
Riot police, some in plain clothes and carrying batons,
backed by a helicopter, fired teargas and chased groups of
rock-throwing youths into side streets around the iconic Taksim
Square and Gezi Park late on Sunday night, trying to prevent
them from regrouping.
There were also disturbances in other parts of the city that had
so far largely been spared the violence, including around the
Galata bridge, which crosses to the historic Sultanahmet
district, and the upmarket Nisantasi neighbourhood.
Erdogan supporters
The police had earlier during the day moved in to clear Gezi
Park of protesters occupying the area adjoining Taksim Square,
as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan addressed hundreds of
thousands of his supporters at an Istanbul parade.
Erdogan told thousands of flag-waving supporters that two
weeks of unrest had been manipulated by "terrorists" and
dismissed suggestions that he was behaving like a dictator, a
constant refrain from those who have taken to the streets.
"They say 'you are too tough', they say 'dictator'. What kind
of a dictator is this who met the Gezi Park occupiers and honest
environmentalists? Is there such a dictator?" Erdogan said to
roars of approval from the crowd.
He dismissed the demonstrations as "nothing more than the
minority's attempt to dominate the majority ... We could not
have allowed this and we will not allow it."
A small-scale environmental protest against government plans
to redevelop Gezi Park had developed into a larger movement
against the government of Erdogan.
The clashes pose no immediate threat to Erdogan's leadership,
but they have tarnished Turkey's image as a stable country on
the fringes of the volatile Middle East, and presented him with
the greatest challenge of his 10-year rule.
Show of strength
The prime minister has long been Turkey's most popular
politician, overseeing a decade of unprecedented prosperity, and
his AK Party has won an increasing share of the vote in three
successive election victories.
Erdogan, who also addressed supporters of his ruling
AK Party in Ankara on Saturday, said the rallies were to
kick off campaigning for local elections next year and
not related to the unrest, but they were widely seen as
a show of strength.
The crowds who packed Istanbul's Kazlicesme festival
ground, many of whom walked for kilometres, turned out
to support a leader who they feel has been under siege.
"We are the silent majority, not the riff-raff who
are trying to frighten us," said Ruveyda Alkan, 32, her
head covered in a black veil and waving a red Turkish
flag.
The two weeks of unrest have left four people dead
and about 5,000 injured, according to the Turkish
Medical Association.
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Source:
Al Jazeera and agencies
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http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2013/06/201361742432736655.html
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