'Terrorists' at Turkey demos: Erdogan

Protesters, predominantly youths, demonstrate in Kizilay square, Ankara yesterday calling for Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan to quit. Photo: AFP

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday 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.

protesters sleep near tents at Gezi Park near Taksim Square in Istanbul. Photo: AFP

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.
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.
Erdogan has previously defied the protesters, dismissing them as "extremists."
"We will not allow a minority to dictate to the majority, nor will we accept the tyranny of the majority," he said yesterday, while defending the urban development plan.