Turkey’s prime minister Tayyip Erdogan ‘agrees to meet’ protesters

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has agreed to meet tomorrow the leaders of the movement whose peaceful protests in Istanbul spiralled into a wave of anti-government demonstrations across Turkey.

Erdogan has repeatedly dismissed the protesters as riff-raff. But deputy prime minister Bulent Arinc said yesterday that leaders of the Gezi Park Platform group had asked to meet him in an effort to end unrest in which police have blasted demonstrators with tear gas and water cannon.

“They asked to meet the prime minister and he agreed to meet with the organisers,” Arinc said in Ankara.

Taksim Square park
The group takes its name from a park in a corner of Istanbul's Taksim Square. A campaign against government plans to develop the park turned into a show of defiance against Erdogan and the ruling AK Party.

The violent police action has drawn criticism from the West and Erdogan has increasingly accused foreign forces of trying to aggravate the troubles.

Some protesters yesterday showed little sign of easing their occupation of Taksim Square after Erdogan warned his patience may run out.

Erdogan also criticised speculators after the stock market fell almost 15 per cent last week. “Those who attempt to sink the bourse, you will collapse . . . If we catch your speculation, we will choke you,” he said.