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ANKARA, Turkey -- Turkey's prime minister climbed on top
of a bus to give a fiery speech to thousands of his supporters Sunday,
challenging increasingly angry anti-government protesters to beat his
party at the ballot box after they also flooded the streets for a 10th day of demonstrations.
Recep
Tayyip Erdogan traveled to two cities where unrest has occurred and
again condemned his detractors as "a handful of looters" and vandals.
In
the southern city of Adana, where pro- and anti-government protesters
clashed Saturday night, Erdogan greeted supporters from the top of a bus
before lashing out at his opponents in the highly polarized country.
"We
won't do what a handful of looters have done. They burn and destroy.
... They destroy the shops of civilians. They destroy the cars of
civilians," Erdogan told supporters who had greeted him at Adana
airport. "They are low enough to insult the prime minister of this
country."
He urged his supporters to avoid
violence themselves and predicted that his Islamic-rooted party would
defeat his opponents during local elections in March.
"I want you to give them the first lesson through democratic means in the ballot box," he said.
The
nationwide
anti-government protests were sparked by outrage over police use of force against an
Erdogan has rejected the accusations, insisting he respects all lifestyles and is the "servant" of his people.
Erdogan
has repeatedly branded the protests as illegal efforts to discredit his
government ahead of local elections next year. He frequently refers to
the 50 percent majority he received in elections in 2011 to dismiss the
protest as attempts by a minority group to dominate over a majority of
his supporters.
"As long as you walk with us, the Justice
and Development Party administration will stand strong," Erdogan said,
referring to his party. "As long as there is life in my body, your prime
minister and your party chairman, God willing, will not be deterred by
anything."
He then traveled to the city of
Mersin, where anti-protests have been held, to make a similar speech and
to open new sports facilities, where he defended his government's
democratic credentials, and criticized protesters for not taking to the
streets to defend the rights of female students who were barred from studying at Turkish
universities
because of bans enforced by previous governments on Islamic-style headscarves.
"What did you do for the freedom of those who couldn't go to universities?" he said.
Later
Sunday, Erdogan was scheduled to travel to Ankara, the capital, where
thousands supporters were preparing to greet him in a show of force.
Erdogan's
refusal to moderate his tone caused dismay in Ankara, where thousands
of protesters again gathered in a central square close to government offices , a day after police used tear gas and water cannons to oust them from the area.
"As
the prime minister continues (with) his harsh style, the resistance
also continues and is getting bigger," said Cagdas Ersoy, a 23-year-old student who joined the protests in Ankara's Kizilay square. "He is making the resistance bigger without realizing it."
Protester Cihan Akburun said: "He should not provoke the people. We invite everyone to common sense."
Tens
of thousands of protesters gathered in Istanbul's Taksim Square, where a
violent police crackdown on a sit-in to prevent the demolition of its
Gezi Park sparked the unrest. The government has vowed to go ahead with
plans to redevelop Taksim, replacing the park with a replica Ottoman
barracks. It has since backed away from plans to build a shopping mall.
In
Adana late Saturday, a pro-government group hurled stones at marching
anti-government demonstrators, the state-run Anadolu Agency said. Police
evacuated women and children, but the two groups continued to clash
with stones and batons.
It was the second time
in the last 10 days of protests that pro- and anti- demonstrated had
fought with one another. On Thursday, party supporters attacked about
30 protesters in the city of Rize, on Turkey's Black Sea coast.
Three people have died in the protests, including a
police officer
in Adana who fell into an underpass that was under construction while chasing demonstrators. thousands have been injured so far
Erdogan said the demonstrators had "martyred" the police officer and defended the
law enforcement
officers, dismissing calls by some protesters that officers engaged in abuse be sacked.
"We won't sacrifice our police to their wishes," he said. "We cannot leave the streets for anarchists and terrorists to roam."
The government had previously apologized for the excessive force used to roust the environmental protesters.
Erdogan blamed the protests on forces he said were trying to prevent Turkey's rise.
"There
are those who cannot stomach Turkey becoming greater and stronger,"
Erdogan said. "They don't want any investments in Turkey."
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