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Protesters in Turkey Vow to Continue Fight | Protesters in Turkey Vow to Continue Fight |
(about 3 hours later) | |
ISTANBUL — Taksim Square is mostly back to normal: the taxicabs line up in front of fancy hotels, where the doormen no longer clutch gas masks, and outdoor cafes are bustling. | |
But Gezi Park — the green corner of the square — remains occupied by defiant protesters who on Saturday pledged that they would continue with their demonstrations, disavowing a compromise between their self-declared leaders and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to end a political crisis that has caused severe damage to Turkey’s image and its economy. | But Gezi Park — the green corner of the square — remains occupied by defiant protesters who on Saturday pledged that they would continue with their demonstrations, disavowing a compromise between their self-declared leaders and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to end a political crisis that has caused severe damage to Turkey’s image and its economy. |
Protesters and Taksim Solidarity, an umbrella group of protest organizers, “continued to guard the park and the city for all the living beings in them, our trees, living spaces, private lives, liberties and future,” the group said a statement issued Saturday. | Protesters and Taksim Solidarity, an umbrella group of protest organizers, “continued to guard the park and the city for all the living beings in them, our trees, living spaces, private lives, liberties and future,” the group said a statement issued Saturday. |
The resistance encompasses “citizens’ anger that accumulated over 11 years of A.K.P. government,” the statement said, using the acronym of the governing Justice and Development Party. The statement added that the movement would continue to spread. | |
The protesters’ decision puts the two sides on the path to confrontation, raising the specter of a police raid to flush out the demonstrators still there. | |
Turkey’s president, Abdullah Gul, urged the protesters to end their action, saying in a Twitter posting on Saturday that “everyone should now return home.” It was ignored. | |
“Open channels for meetings and dialogue is a sign of democratic maturity. I believe this period will produce good results,” Mr. Gul added. | |
Officials from the pro-Islamic Justice and Development Party continued to criticize the protests as an internationally backed plot and an effort by the main opposition party to hurt the government. | |
“If the issue is about the environmental concerns, respect to the green, all of these messages have been taken, necessary assessments have been made,” Huseyin Celik, a government representative, said in a televised statement on Saturday. “From now on, prolonging this any longer just spoils it.” | |
The protesters remained defiant after organizers walked out of Mr. Erdogan’s home in Ankara, Turkey’s capital, in the early morning hours on Friday with a tentative deal to end the demonstrations. But the rank and file did not go along. | |
“Cowards! Liars! Sheep!” some of the protesters shouted as members from Taksim Solidarity tried to deliver details of their meeting with Mr. Erdogan. | |
In the proposed compromise, Mr. Erdogan agreed to allow a legal challenge to the park’s demolition before any construction would begin, and he pledged to hold a referendum in Istanbul even if a court rules in the government’s favor and allows the park to be replaced with a mall designed to look like an Ottoman-era army barracks. | |
But from the moment the deal was reached, it was unclear how many of the protesters, mostly young, secular and middle class, would react. Many say they have no leader and do not trust the government to uphold the deal. | |
“The government thinks the solidarity group represents all of us, and the rest are extremists and terrorists, but that is just not true,” said Cuneyt Yusuf, 25, referring to several leftist groups that the government says are terrorist organizations and that have joined the street protests. “We in the park are a majority, and we do not have a representative.” | |
The angry posture struck by the occupiers of Gezi Park underscored the amorphous nature of the protest movement, which is largely leaderless. Mr. Erdogan’s decision to directly engage Taksim Solidarity after days of defiant comments was an attempt to focus the protests on their original cause: the preservation of the park. Originally, a few hundred people peacefully mobilized against the park’s destruction. But when the police cracked down, it spurred a broader movement that challenged Mr. Erdogan’s government, which many Turks view as becoming increasingly authoritarian. | |
“We want a group of representatives from all corners of the park,” said Bilgi Coskun, who said he has slept in Gezi Park for 17 days. “Those that have put up a fight, choked on gas, slept here day and night, guarding our soil. The Taksim Solidarity is no representative of this park or movement.” | |
The apparent unwillingness of many of the protesters to agree to the compromise also raised the specter of a further hardening of resolve on both sides, even as some leaders promoted a compromise. That raised more fears that ultimately the government would dispatch the police to empty the park, leading to more violence. | The apparent unwillingness of many of the protesters to agree to the compromise also raised the specter of a further hardening of resolve on both sides, even as some leaders promoted a compromise. That raised more fears that ultimately the government would dispatch the police to empty the park, leading to more violence. |
Mr. Erdogan said again on Friday that the protesters must leave. | |
“Youngsters, look,” he said, “you have stayed there for as long as you could. We have received and evaluated your message. Now withdraw from Gezi Park and go home. If there are still some left from the illegal organizations, leave us alone with them.” | “Youngsters, look,” he said, “you have stayed there for as long as you could. We have received and evaluated your message. Now withdraw from Gezi Park and go home. If there are still some left from the illegal organizations, leave us alone with them.” |
Protesters say it is now hard to sleep because they expect to be awakened by a police raid. | |
“You get used to it,” Turgut Bulut, 29, said. “If they come, they come. We are not scared because it is them that will pay the price in the long run. They are going down.” | “You get used to it,” Turgut Bulut, 29, said. “If they come, they come. We are not scared because it is them that will pay the price in the long run. They are going down.” |