By Mac William Bishop
Violent Protests in Antakya: In southern Turkey, Alawite demonstrators clashed with police and government supporters, resulting in the death of a 22-year-old student protester.
ISTANBUL — As clashes continued through the night in major Turkish cities, Turkey’s deputy prime minister on Tuesday apologized for the “excessive violence” used by the police last week against demonstrators opposing the razing of an Istanbul park, the start of what later became nationwide protests against the pro-Islamic government.
The deputy, Bulent Arinc, speaking at a news conference broadcast live from Ankara, appeared to be trying to ease mounting criticism after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday referred to the thousands who have been protesting in 67 cities for at least five days as extremists led by the main opposition party.
“It is wrong, unjust that excessive violence was used against those that acted upon their environmental sensitivities in the initial event,” said Mr. Arinc, referring to the protest in Taksim Square on Friday, which ignited the widespread riots. “I apologize to those citizens.”
In Geneva, the United Nations human rights office expressed concern over the use of excessive force and called for an investigation into possible violations of international human rights standards.
The investigations should be “prompt, thorough, independent and impartial, and perpetrators should be brought to justice,” a spokesman for Navi Pillay, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, told journalists in Geneva on Tuesday, urging adherence to human rights safeguards in arrests and detentions of demonstrators.
Plans to remove Gezi Park, the last significant green space in the center of Istanbul, and replace it with a shopping mall have energized protesters. Mr. Erdogan’s government has proceeded with disputed urban development plans with little public input.
Mr. Arinc spoke after Mr. Erdogan left for an official tour to North Africa on Monday, which critics saw as irresponsible considering that two people have been killed, more than 300 injured and at least 1,750 detained in the clashes.
Early on Tuesday, main streets in Ankara, Istanbul, Adana, Hatay and Izmir were quiet after fierce overnight riots.
Two leading labor unions that represent around 240,000 workers agreed to stage a two-day strike starting on Tuesday to support protests against the government and what critics say are its increasingly autocratic tendencies.
Protesters have pointed to recent regulations to control the use and sale of alcohol, plans by Mr. Erdogan to have mosques built in locations around Istanbul without consultation, and his strong suggestion that families have at least three children.
After mainstream news channels blacked out the riots, running beauty contests or documentaries on penguins instead of the live pictures of injured protesters shown on Web portals, protesters strongly criticized the government’s control over the media. Mr. Arinc said the information supplied by social networks, especially Twitter, was unreliable and criticized the foreign media for misrepresenting events.
Although Mr. Erdogan has repeatedly said the riots were meant to destroy the growth and stability that his government has built in Turkey over a decade, Mr. Arinc acknowledged that the government could draw “lessons” from the recent events, and blamed the excessive use of tear gas in provoking nationwide reactions.
“There are many paths that we walk correctly, which we will continue walking on,” he said, “but we do not have the luxury or room for making the mistake of dismissing and turning deaf ears on anyone.”
“Democracy cannot exist without opposition,” Mr. Arinc said.
On Monday, the fourth day of protests, Mr. Erdogan said the demonstrations were the work of “bums” and extremists led by political opponents trying to overthrow his government. He also suggested the possibility of foreign provocation, although he did not specify its origin.
“Our intelligence agency has their own investigation on that — there is no need to disclose them as this or that,” he said.
On Tuesday, Mr. Arinc said the police had information on 11 groups involved in organizing and provoking riots, but refused to give names.
But Turkey’s president, Abdullah Gul, called for calm from all sides and said protests and demonstrations were a natural part of democracy.
“There is nothing more natural than various ways of expression other than elections if there are different views, different situations, objections,” he said. “Peaceful protests are surely a part of that.”
Protesters gathered again in Istanbul and other cities Monday evening, after security forces used tear gas and water cannons overnight on crowds of mostly youthful demonstrators in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir who were calling for an end to Mr. Erdogan’s more than 10 years in power.
Two deaths were reported. One protester died in Istanbul after a vehicle slammed into a crowd there late Sunday, an Ankara-based Turkish doctors’ association said. And in the southern border town of Antakya, a 22-year-old man, identified as Abdullah Can Comert, was killed in demonstrations, government officials said.
Speaking at a news conference before leaving for the visit to Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, Mr. Erdogan dismissed criticisms that his government had undermined the liberal lifestyles of his opponents and referred to his electoral victories and his parliamentary majority as a license to carry out policies as he saw fit.
Turkish Official Apologizes for Force Used at Start of Riots
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