Post date: Jun 08, 2013 8:41:46 PM
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's AK Party on Saturday rules out early elections as thousands of anti-government demonstrators defy his call for an immediate end to protests.
ISTANBUL, TURKEY (JUNE 8, 2013) (REUTERS) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's AK Party on Saturday (June 8) ruled out early elections as thousands of anti-government demonstrators defied his call for an immediate end to protests.
Huseyin Celik, deputy chairman of the Justice and Development (AK) Partyfounded by Erdogan just over a decade ago, said local and presidential elections would be held next year as planned, and a general election in 2015."In some of the Turkish media there are claims that early elections are going to be held. I have to say that those claims are completely unfounded. Unnecessary. And fake stories," he said.
A few kilometres away, tens of thousands of Turks defied Erdogan's call on Friday for an immediate end to anti-government demonstrations, massing again in the central Taksim Square, where riot police backed by helicopters and armoured vehicles first clashed with protesters a week ago.
Tourists and curious locals swelled their numbers around a makeshift protest camp in Gezi Park, a leafy corner of the square where activists have been sleeping in tents and vandalised buses, or wrapped in blankets under plane trees.
What began as a campaign against government plans to build over the park spiralled into an unprecedented display of public anger over the perceived authoritarianism of Erdogan and his Islamist-rooted AK Party, leading to the worst riots in decades.
In a rare show of unity, thousands of fans from Istanbul's three main football clubs Besiktas, Galatasaray and Fenerbahce, who have helped organise some of the protests, marched on Taksim roaring "Tayyip resign!" and "Arm in arm against fascism!".
Police fired teargas and water cannon on protesters overnight in the working-class Gazi neighbourhood of Istanbul, which saw heavy clashes with police in the 1990s. There was similar unrest night after night earlier in the week in several cities, leaving three dead and close to 5,000 injured.
Hundreds of protesters also gathered in the centre of the capital Ankara on Saturday, which saw violent clashes earlier in the week, chanting and honking car horns.
Anti-government protesters gathered in Sakarya street in Kizilay square to stand in solidarity with activists in Taksim's Gezi Park.
"The unrest is going on for days against the pressure heaped on us by the rulingAK Party government. The protest in Gezi Park was a sparkle and it grew across the whole country. Here, as young people who stand up for their future and freedom, we are setting up tents to support the activists in Taksim Gezi Park," one of the protesters said as the others set up makeshift tents despite the rainy weather.