Turkey threatens to deploy army to quell protests

Riot police and trade union members clashed in Istanbul and Ankara yesterday as Turkey's deputy prime minister threatened the army could be deployed to quell protests that have engulfed the country since the start of this month.

Speaking to state-run TRT Turk television, Bülent Arinç said: “Our police, our security forces are doing their jobs. If it’s not enough, then the gendarmes will do their jobs. If that’s not enough . . . we could even use elements of the Turkish armed forces.”

Five Turkish unions representing about 330,000 workers held a 24-hour strike yesterday in protest at the ongoing crackdown against anti-government demonstrators. Union workers marched to Taksim Square in central Istanbul and staged a sit-in yesterday evening after being stopped by police patrols from entering the square. Last night, riot police fought running battles with protesters in other areas by the square.

Second strike looming
Kivanç Eliaçik, the international secretary for the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey, said a second 24-hour strike may be enforced later this week.

Protesting in a neighbourhood north of Taksim Square with several thousand others, he said: “We ask our government to stop their violence and listen to the voice of the street. The prime minister has to understand he can’t stop people with repression.”

Trade union leaders and police also faced off in Ankara.

The now-iconic Taksim Square was opened to pedestrian and vehicular traffic yesterday after being closed to the public on Saturday night. Throughout Sunday and yesterday , municipal workers planted trees and flowers in Gezi Park and Taksim Square, gathering points for anti-government demonstrators.

City authorities have declared gathering in the square illegal. The protest movement was dealt a serious blow when the hundreds occupying Gezi Park were forced out on Saturday night after an 18-day occupation.

In Konya, a city in central Turkey, clashes between pro- and anti-government protesters were reported only hours after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s uncompromising address to hundreds of thousands of supporters in Istanbul on Sunday. Several journalists working in Taksim Square reported being forced to delete photos of clashes by riot police, and a British journalist is believed to have been detained by police.

A Turkish poll suggests Mr Erdogan has lost significant public support – down 11 per cent since June 2012.

Yet the recent violence by protesters has drawn criticism from some. “I completely oppose the government,” said Ayca, a student from Maltepe in eastern Istanbul. “But the way the protests turned violent in the last couple of days has hurt them. I wanted to go to Taksim Square [to protest], but the violence put me off.”