I AM NOT A DICTATOR, BUT THE SERVANT OF THE PEOPLE: ERDOGAN

     Istanbul, 24 Rajab 1434/3 June 2013 (MINA) – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has termed the protesters demonstrating against his government, adding that he is not a dictator as they have called him.

      “I am not the master of the people. Dictatorship does not run in my blood or in my character. I am the servant of the people,” Erdogan said in a speech, according to Press TV reports as monitored by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA).

      “If they call someone who has served the people a ‘dictator,’ I have nothing to say,” Erdogan said in an address to a group representing migrants from the Balkans. “My only concern has been to serve my country,” the media reported.

      The Turkish prime minister called the protests “ideological” and organized by an opposition, unable to beat (the government) at the ballot box.

    Since Friday, tens of thousands of anti-government protesters have held demonstrations in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Mugla, Antalya, and many other cities and towns.

      On Sunday, about 10,000 demonstrators, many waving flags, chanting “victory, victory, victory”, again gathered in Istanbul’s Taksim Square, demanded that Erdogan resign.

      On the same day, some 7,000 people held a demonstration in the capital Ankara that turned violent, with protesters throwing fire bombs and police firing teargas.

     On Saturday night, about 5,000 protesters, most of them were in drunk, surrounded Erdogan’s office in Istanbul’s Besiktas municipality, located on the European shore of the strait of Bosphorus, and threw stones, injuring at least seven policemen.

       Special police forces used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the demonstrators.

       Earlier on Saturday, 100,000 demonstrators gathered in Taksim Square, demanding that Erdogan step down. 

      The anti-government unrest began after police broke up a sit-in staged in Taksim Square on Friday to protest against the demolition of Gezi Park.

     The protesters say Gezi Park, which is a traditional gathering point for rallies and demonstrations as well as a popular tourist destination, is the city’s last green public space.

       Erdogan added that 89 police vehicles, 42 private cars, four buses and 94 businesses were destroyed by the “vandalism” of the protesters. (T/P09/P03)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)