Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan today said that members of a “terrorist organisation” were taking part in deadly anti-government protests sweeping Turkey and refused to cancel a controversial Istanbul development
plan that sparked them.
He said seven foreigners implicated in the unrest had been arrested.
Among the protesters, there are extremists, some of them implicated in terrorism,” Erdogan told reporters in Tunis, on the final day of a north African tour that has been overshadowed by the unrest back home.
“Supporters of this terrorist organisation were present” in Istanbul’s Taksim Square, epicentre of the protests, he added.
He did not specify the nationalities of the detained foreigners or where they had been arrested, but he denied that any of them were diplomats, in response to a Turkish journalist’s question.
Seven foreigners have been implicated in the unrest, six of whom have appeared before the public prosecutor and one of whom is under arrest.”
“An inquiry is taking place to determine the manner in which they took part in the violence,” the prime minister
said.
Since last weekend, thousands of angry demonstrators opposed to the conservative policies of Erdogan’s
Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) have taken to the streets of Turkey’s main cities calling for him to quit.
A heavy-handed police response to a peaceful demonstration against the redevelopment of Istanbul’s Gezi
Park next to Taksim Square was the initial spark for the nationwide unrest that has now claimed three lives.
——————————PTI