Many also said they avoid the political-party structure and are opposed to intervention by the military.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses deputies of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) during a meeting at the Turkish parliament in Ankara on Tuesday (June 18th). He has steadfastly defended the heavy police response to widespread protests triggered by controversial plans to redevelop a popular Istanbul park. [AFP]
Protesters demonstrate in central Ankara on Monday (June 17th). Turkey warned it may bring in the army to help quell nationwide anti-government protests after a weekend of heavy clashes. [AFP]
People gather during a rally at the Kazlicesma meeting area in Istanbul to listen to a speech by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on June 16th. Erdogan rallied tens of thousands of his supporters, hours after ordering a crackdown on anti-government protesters in a city park and sending tensions soaring in two weeks of unrest. [AFP]
A Turkish woman using a mobile phone to read the news on social media joins demonstrators at midnight in Gezi Park in Istanbul on June 13th after a a large clean-up operation in nearly Taksim Square removed all evidence of unrest, anti-government banners and makeshift barricades. [AFP]
A photo released by the prime minister’s office shows Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (left) during a meeting with the Taksim Solidarity Platform, which includes representatives of Gezi Park protesters, on June 12th in Ankara. [AFP]
A man is carried by protesters to a hotel during clashes with riot police at Taksim Square in Istanbul on June 11th. Riot police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to clear protesters from the area as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned he would show "no more tolerance" for the unrelenting mass demonstrations against his Islamic-rooted government. [AFP]
Demonstrators flee Taksim Square in Istanbul on June 11th as riot police storm the area, firing tear gas and rubber bullets at firework-hurling demonstrators in a fresh escalation of unrest after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he would meet with protest leaders. Hundreds of police officers backed by armoured cars moved in on Taksim Square -- the epicentre of nearly two weeks of deadly anti-government demonstrations -- in the early morning, saying they wanted to remove makeshift barricades erected by protesters and clear the area of flags and banners. [AFP]
Demonstrators gather on Taksim Square in Istanbul on June 6th in another day of protests against the ruling party, police brutality and the destruction of Gezi Park for the sake of a development project. Turkey's Islamic-rooted government apologised Thursday to wounded protestors and said it had "learnt its lesson" after days of mass street demonstrations that have posed the biggest challenge to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's decade in office. [AFP]
Protestors clash with Turkish riot policemen on the way to Taksim Square in Istanbul on Wednesday (June 5th) as part of ongoing protests against the ruling party, police brutality and the destruction of Taksim Park for a development project. Turkish police pulled out of Istanbul's iconic Taksim Square on June 1st, after a second day of violent clashes between protesters and police over a controversial development project. What started as an outcry against a local development project has snowballed into widespread anger against what critics say is the government's increasingly conservative and authoritarian agenda. [AFP]
Protesters shout anti-government slogans during a demonstration in Ankara on June 4th. The Islamic-rooted government said it had "learnt its lesson" and appealed for an end to mass street protests that have convulsed the country for days in the worst political crisis in a decade. The UN pressed for a full investigation into allegations of excessive use of police force against anti-government demonstrators while Turkey's main union federation launched a two-day strike over what it branded "state terror." [AFP]
