Turkey detains 16 suspected Nusra Front militants

Turkey on Wednesday detained 16 members of al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate al-Nusra Front in a major police operation in the east of the country, reports said.

The suspects were detained in raids on 20 addresses in the eastern region of Adiyaman north of the Syrian border, the state-run Anadolunews agency reported.

It said the raids targeted people believed to be connected to fighting in Syria, without giving further details. Their nationalities were not disclosed.

The police failed to find four more suspects at their homes. At least two of those detained at previously been to Syria, it said.

The al-Nusra Front shares some of the aims of the Islamic State (IS) militant group but has also on occasion fought against it.

This was one of the first times there has been a report of a major operation against suspected members of the group in Turkey.

Turkey has been accused in the past by its Western allies of not doing enough in the fight against IS and al-Nusra, although it has noticeably tightened border security in recent months and detained dozens of IS suspects.

Ankara has also been charged by some commentors on occasion of even collaborating with al-Nusra Front as a useful ally in its drive to oust President Bashar al-Assad from power.

Turkey bitterly rejects the claims, saying it categorises the al-Nusra Front - like IS - as a terror outfit.

Ocalan's isolation an 'invitation to war' in Turkey: pro-Kurdish MP

Reuters | Ankara

Kurdish militant leader Abdullah Ocalan’s isolation in his island jail near Istanbul amounts to an “invitation to war”, a prominent pro-Kurdish lawmaker said on Thursday, as conflict flares between security forces and rebels in southeast Turkey.

Ocalan, jailed in 1999, has not been allowed visits by a delegation of pro-Kurdish lawmakers since April. The 67-year-old leader of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has also not seen any family members since 2014 or his lawyers since 2011.

Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast is currently experiencing its worst violence since the 1990s after a two-year ceasefire between the PKK and the Turkish state collapsed in July, wrecking a peace process launched by Ankara and Ocalan.

“Isolating Ocalan, sowing worries among the people about his life, safety and health conditions, is issuing an invitation to war,” said Sirri Sureyya Onder, spokesman for the delegation that often visited Ocalan before the peace process fell apart.

“The path to prevent this is clear ... They must enable Ocalan to speak with his lawyers, us and his family,” he told a news conference in the capital Ankara.

Two inmates sent to join Ocalan in jail on the island of Imrali to end his isolation were transferred to another prison two weeks ago, Onder added. Ocalan’s family have voiced concerns about his well-being.

Peace process “on ice”
Onder stressed that his comments should not be understood as a “call to war”. His Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) says it is opposed to violence and wants a peaceful solution for Turkey’s large Kurdish minority.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan initiated the peace talks with Ocalan in 2012 with the aim of ending a three-decade conflict with the PKK which has killed around 40,000 people.

Erdogan, who says the peace process is now “on ice”, said on Wednesday some lawmakers and mayors from the HDP were behaving like members of a terrorist group and he called for legal action against them.

He views the HDP as an extension of the PKK, a group deemed terrorist by Turkey, the United States and European Union.

Clashes have intensified in recent days as a major military campaign entered its fourth week. Residents complain that the operations are indiscriminate and that round-the-clock curfews have even left the sick unable to get to hospital.

In the town of Cizre, near the Syrian border, tanks pounded apartment blocks on Thursday, Reuters television footage showed. Helicopters circled and gunfire echoed through the town.

The authorities say the military campaign is targeting PKK militants, not civilians, and that it was launched in response to attacks on the security forces.

Female Kurdish militant killed in police raid in Istanbul: reports

By AFP, Istanbul Friday, 4 December 2015
A female suspected member of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) was killed on Friday in Istanbul in a police operation against militants suspected to be planning suicide attacks, reports said.

Counter-terrorism police raided a home in Istanbul’s Sancaktepe district after receiving a tip-off that PKK militants had arrived in Turkey’s biggest city to carry out suicide attacks, Dogan news agency said.

A female member of the PKK was killed in the ensuing shootout with police while three other militants were detained, Dogan said.

Police also detained 10 suspected members of the radical Marxist Leninist Communist Party (MLKP) in a separate operation in several districts of Istanbul, state-run Anatolia news agency said.

The MLKP, an offshoot of the Turkish Communist Party/Marxist-Leninist (TKP-ML) set up in 1994, is a small armed group that seeks to replace Turkey’s political system with a communist regime.

It is considered by the Turkish authorities as close to the PKK, which has over the years narrowed its demands from an independent Kurdish state to greater autonomy and cultural rights.

Putin: Turkey will regret jet shooting 'more than once'

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned Turkey it will "more than once" regret shooting down the Russian bomber jet near the Syrian-Turkish border.
Delivering his annual state-of-the-nation address on Thursday, Putin said Russia would not ignore what he described as Turkey's "aiding of terrorists", adding that the November shooting down of the Sukhoi Su-24 was a "treacherous war crime".
Putin also called for a broad international front against terrorism, an end to what he called double standards and halting any backing of what he called "terror groups".

Marwan Bishara: Putin's Bush moment

"We are not planning to engage in military sabre-rattling [with Turkey]," Putin said.
"But if anyone thinks that having committed this awful war crime, the murder of our people, that they are going to get away with some measures concerning their tomatoes or some limits on construction and other sectors, they are sorely mistaken."
Moscow has already responded with measures including bans on some Turkish fruit and vegetables, and in his icy remarks Putin made clear that would not be the end of it.
"It appears that Allah decided to punish the ruling clique of Turkey by depriving them of wisdom and judgment," Putin said.
He harshly criticised Turkey, accusing it of buying oil from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.
"We are fighting for justice, happiness and the entire future of our civilisation. We have to be prepared and we have to defeat them [terrorists] before they get here. That's why we launched this operation in Syria."
Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera's senior political analyst, said: "Putin's speech echoed statements by US President George Bush after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
"Notably, his emphasis on terrorism and fighting terrorism in a world full of terrorism underlines the attack on Russian values, and makes it clear the likes of Turkey are either with Russia or with the terrorists.
"He didn't give any signal of backing down. He seemed to be escalating the war of words with Turkey and other Russia detractors in Europe and the Middle East."

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OPINION: Turkey-Russia - The inevitable clash of the titans

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Putin's comments came a day after Sergey Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, said he was ready to meet his Turkish counterpart on the sidelines of a two-day Organisation of Security and Co-operation in Europe  conference in Belgrade.
Later on Thursday, Lavrov met his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu. But he said he heard "nothing new" about the downing of the Russian plane.
Russia has escalated its dispute with Turkey by claiming to have evidence that proves President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his family are benefiting from the illegal smuggling of oil from territory held by ISIL.

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Q&A: Debate about Syria is missing one thing - Syrians

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"Turkey is the main consumer of the oil stolen from its rightful owners, Syria and Iraq. According to information we've received, the senior political leadership of the country - President Erdogan and his family - are involved in this criminal business," Anatoly Antonov, Russia's deputy defence minister, said on Wednesday.
Turkey has vehemently denied Russia's claims, with Erdogan saying again on Wednesday that he would resign from his post if they could be proved.
"Turkey has not lost its moral values as to buy oil from a terror organisation... Those who make such slanderous claims are obliged to prove them. If they do, I would not remain on the presidential seat for one minute," Erdogan said.
"But those who make the claim must also give up their seat if they can't prove it."
Meanwhile, Serko Cevdet, head of the energy commission of the Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government, dismissed Russia's claim, telling Anadolu news agency that recently published Russian satellite images showed tankers carrying oil from the Kurdish region to Turkey’s Port of Ceyhan.
Cevdet said it was impossible to transport oil from the ISIL-held areas to Turkey via the Kurdish region.

Erdogan says Kurdish peace talks impossible to continue

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says it is impossible to continue a peace process with Kurdish fighters and that politicians with links to "terrorist groups" should be stripped of their immunity from prosecution.

After months of reluctance, Turkey last week started military operations on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) targets in Syria.

The operations came after a bombing last week blamed on ISIL that killed 32 mostly young Kurdish students in the Turkish town of Suruc on the border with Syria.

Simultaneously, Turkey started conducting air strikes on Iraqi positions of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The PKK fought the Turkish state for over 30 years until a 2013 ceasefire was declared as the two sides were engaged in talks.

Throughout last week, PKK was stepping up its attacks as Turkey keeps on with its air strikes against the group.

"It is not possible for us to continue the peace process with those who threaten our national unity and brotherhood," Erdogan said on Tuesday before departing for an official visit to China.

Erdogan also said a "secure zone" in northern Syria, which Turkey and the US are in talks about establishing, would pave the way for the return of 1.7 million Syria refugees currently being sheltered in Turkey.

The US and Turkey discussed on Monday plans for a military campaign to push ISIL out of such a zone.

NATO's support

Erdogan's statement came after  NATO offered political support for Turkey's military campaign at a rare meeting in Brussels, with the Turkish government saying the alliance may have a "duty" to become more involved.

The extraordinary meeting at the NATO headquarters on Tuesday was the fifth in the organisation's 66-year history.

'ISIL-free zone' planned for Syria's border with Turkey

The session was requested by Turkey under Article 4 of the treaty that founded the US-led alliance, which empowers its 28 member states to seek such consultations when they consider their "territorial integrity, political independence or security" to be in jeopardy.

"We stand in strong solidarity with our ally Turkey," Jens Stoltenberg, NATO secretary-general, told alliance ambassadors at the start of a meeting he called right and timely "to address instability on Turkey's doorstep and on NATO's border".

In the run-up, both NATO and Turkey played down any idea that the military alliance might provide air or ground support for Turkey's dramatic change in strategy.

Al Jazeera's Bernard Smith, reporting from the Kurdish-majority city of Diyarbakir in southeastern Turkey, said Turkey got what it wanted from the NATO meeting.

"NATO expressed solidarity and political support for both PKK and ISIL campaigns," he said.

"Turkey has been careful in expressing that they were not targeting Kurdish fighters in Syria, who also fight against the ISIL."

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RELATED: Turkey's military offensive sets off hashtag war

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The NATO meeting also came shortly after PKK-affiliated People's Protection Units (YPG) said that Turkish tanks shelled Kurdish-held villages on Sunday night.

Speaking to Al Jazeera from Ankara, Osman Sert, media adviser to Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkish prime minister, said: "As long as YPG or other groups fight ISIL and the Syrian regime, we have no problem with them.

"Turkey's borders are also NATO borders. Whenever we need support, we will appeal to the alliance."

Turkey last week entered a long-awaited agreement which allows the US to launch its own strikes from Turkey's strategically located Incirlik airbase.

Turkey and PKK 'back to square one'

Erbil, Iraq - As Turkey plunges into a two-front war, pounding Kurdish armed groups in Iraq and Syria as well as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, it has effectively ended its fragile peace process with the Kurds.

On Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said it was impossible to continue a peace process with Kurdish fighters and that politicians with links to "terrorist groups" should be stripped of their immunity from prosecution.

Launched in the final days of 2012, this peace process was one of Erdogan's signature achievements, ending decades of violence that had left thousands of people dead.

Turkey's air strikes on Kurdish and ISIL positions came after rising violence inside its own territory, including a series of attacks by ISIL and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) on civilian and state targets.

Turkish police have also rounded up more than 1,000 suspects across the country. These include some suspected of being leftist fighters or ISIL members, but many of those arrested were also alleged to be affiliated with the PKK or its allies.  

On Wednesday, a Turkish government spokesperson said that in Turkey's "full-fledged battle against terrorist groups", 847 are accused of links to the PKK and just 137 to ISIL.

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OPINION: What is next for Turkey's Kurdish peace process?

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Turkey has also permitted the United States to use its Incirlik airbase near Diyarbakir to launch air attacks against ISIL in Syria.

Ashraf Mehmood, a fighter with the People's Defence Units (YPG), a Kurdish armed group, told Al Jazeera that Turkish tanks had attacked YPG soldiers fighting ISIL in villages near the border city of Kobane.

Kurdish activists say Turkey's action against the PKK has ended any possibility for the peace process to continue.

"By carrying out the recent attacks, Turkey has practically and unilaterally ended the state of non-conflict and the peace process," said Zagros Hiwa, the spokesperson for the Kurdish Communities Union, the PKK's political wing, from Iraq's Qandil Mountains, where Turkish bombing raids continue.

"These attacks on the PKK will have no success. By giving an implicit approval, the US has damaged its image among the Kurds," Hiwa continued. "The best option is a democratic solution to the Kurdish question."

These attacks on the PKK will have no success. By giving an implicit approval, the US has damaged its image among the Kurds. Zagros Hiwa, spokesperson, Kurdish Communities Union, PKK’s political wing

Some Turkish and Kurdish analysts see Turkey's move as a strategy to intensify its rivalry with the PKK and influence a potential call for new elections in the near future, while using the war against ISIL as a means to advance its military attack on the PKK.

"In the election rallies of HDP [the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party] in Istanbul, there were quite a lot of Turkish flags," noted Ilya U Topper, an Istanbul-based analyst on foreign affairs and democracy for the M'Sur, a Spanish media outlet.

Topper said Kurds in Turkey generally support the peace process, adding that the PKK is no longer fighting for independence.

As for the HDP, he noted: "No one in the party has used the word independence for many years, and being part of Turkey is always an element in their arguments."

"When AK party lost [its] absolute majority [in parliament] on June 7, while HDP won, getting over the 10 percent barrier, the results showed how people started seeing that not every Kurd is a terrorist," Topper added.

He noted that HDP was able to perform so well in June's elections because there was peace.

"Two years of peace make people forget bloodshed and give them hope. Now we are back to square one. Kurds are 'terrorists' again," he said. "If elections are repeated, HDP might fall under the barrier and AK party will achieve [an] absolute majority in the elections. The big question is why the PKK accepted that game."

In May, Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Yalçin Akdogan criticised the HDP for what he claimed were its strong links with the PKK, and urged the party to abandon these ties lest they weaken the peace process. Topper believes that if violence escalates, it will harm neither the PKK nor the AK party.

Kurdish activists say Turkey's actions have ended any possibility for the peace process to continue [EPA]

Turkey still designates PKK as a "terrorist group", which allows it to justify its attacks.

"It's time to reconsider the terrorist status which was given to PKK long time ago," said Mutlu Civiroglu, an independent Kurdish analyst based in Washington, DC. "When you talk about radicalism and terrorist groups at the calibre of ISIL, many people within Turkey and other parts of the world don't find PKK a terrorist group." 

Civiroglu added that PKK's designation as a "terrorist group" causes NATO, the US, and the international coalition against ISIL, to support Turkey in its actions against PKK, which may, as a result, destabilise the Kurdish peace process.

On Al Jazeera: Turkey's precarious peace with the Kurds

Soli Özel, a professor of international relations and political science at Kadir Has University in Istanbul, said that after the general elections in June, the AK party has used language that questions the HDP's legitimacy.

"The government should go back to the peace process with the Kurds," Özel added. "And for that, Turkey must at all costs block attempts to ... [hold] snap elections."

The recent PKK attacks in Turkey have undermined both the HDP's electoral gains and the military success of the armed branch of their Syrian affiliates, the YPG, which is fighting ISIL in Syria.

Lara Fatah, a Kurdish affairs specialist and co-founder of Zanraw Consulting based in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, said any further military response by the PKK would play into the hands of the Turkish government and give Erdogan a justification to act against them.

"The Kurds may have so far been the most effective forces against ISIL on the ground, but as non-state actors they are not on a level footing with other coalition members," she said. "And as such, their actions are judged differently."

But one Peshmerga leader, affiliated with the Kurdistan Democratic Party KDP in Iraq who spoke to Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity, said Turkey's concerns over the PKK were "reasonable". "I can't agree more [that] they [PKK] are no different from ISIL. They attack and kill innocent people in Turkey, and it's a shame for Kurds," he said. 

Analysts argue that Selahattin Demirtas, head of HDP, should publicly distance himself from the PKK and its jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan. "The majority of people in Turkey, including many Kurds, find PKK extremely provocative and violent," said Fikret Gulcer, an Istanbul-based specialist on the banned group.

"The fundamental problem with HDP, in the eyes of many voters, has been its association with the terrorist group."

"While many liberal and left-wing Turks have given a chance to HDP, it should stand up to their expectations and assure its supporters that HDP will not back a group that hurts the peace in this country."

Source: Al Jazeera

Women blast Erdogan over 'hate crime'

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has once again sparked outrage among women's rights groups by declaring that men and women are not equal. However, unlike similar statements made in the past, his comments mostly sparked angry words, as opposed to the mass protests that traditionally would follow. "You cannot put women and men on an equal footing … it's against nature. They were created differently," Erdogan said in the now-infamous address he gave on Monday in Istanbul. The speech, ironically made to Turkey's Women and Democracy Association, has caused great offence, particularly within the country's secular community. "How can a president of a country legitimately say these things? What he said is a crime. It's a crime according to our legislation and it's a crime according to universal laws," Erdogan Erdogan, a women's rights activist, told Al Jazeera while en route to an anti-sexism rally in Istanbul. Aylin Nazliaka, an MP from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), took to Twitter to denounce Erdogan's speech as a "hate crime" against women. RELATED: Turkish women struggle with Erdogan legacy The late 1980s, early 1990s, saw an emergence of women's rights groups in Turkey that had not existed before. In 1993, Women for Women's Human Rights was created to rally for women's equal participation in Turkish society. However, in 2014, the feminist movement seems to have lulled with many of the women Al Jazeera spoke to saying they were unsurprised by Erdogan's comments, and felt disheartened by his re-election. The energy and enthusiasm from past decades had withered.  Erdogan was equally adamant about women in the workforce, saying: "You can't get a woman to work in every job that a man does, like they did in communist regimes in the past… You can't put a pickaxe and a shovel in their hand and get them to work. " Erdogan has been criticised in the past for being too involved in the private lives of his citizens. His declarations about motherhood, for example - stating that women should have at least three children - have been viewed as an infringement on women's basic rights to make choices about their bodies and families. I think we need to clarify what the president said. I think he has mixed two things up, sameness and equality. Okay, men and women are not the same, but equality is different from sameness... I deeply believe that President Erodgan thinks women and men have the same rights... he's just a little confused, that is all. - Fatma Bostan, lecturer, Mus Alparslan University "There are those who understand this [and] those who don't," Erdogan said. "You can't tell this to feminists, because they do not accept motherhood." Erdogan has also expressed his staunch opposition to abortion. Zeynep Banu Dalaman, a political scientist and expert in women's studies, told Al Jazeera: "Mr Erdogan wants to make the private lives of women in Turkey a public matter. At the same time, he wants women to be kept away from public spheres of work." Dalaman said Turkey's opposition parties must play a bigger role in tackling sexism of this magnitude. "They can help hugely by increasing women's political participation and therefore, give women greater influence in positions of power," she said.  But not all Turkish women are on the same page. While educated women in urban areas are furious about what the president said, others are comfortable with Erdogan's assumptions, professor Yildiz Ecevit, who specialises in gender studies at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, told Al Jazeera.  "[Some women in rural communities] receive social benefits for being stay-at-home mothers and while they might not be happy, as long as the economy is good, and they live a comfortable lifestyle, they are okay with voting for Erdogan," Ecevit said. Fatma Bostan, a lecturer at Mus Alparslan University in eastern Turkey, said Erdogan may have mixed up two distinct concepts. "I think we need to clarify what the president said," Bostan told Al Jazeera. "I think he has mixed two things up, sameness and equality. Okay, men and women are not the same, but equality is different from sameness." Bostan, who used to work as a volunteer in the social affairs branch of Turkey's ruling AKP party, was dismissed from her post in 2002 after her husband became a member of parliament. This was because of Turkish legislation stating that only one spouse could work in parliament at any given time - even though Bostan's position was unpaid. Bostan said she supports this rule, noting: "Politics should not be a family affair." "I deeply believe that President Erdogan thinks women and men have the same rights … he's just a little confused, that is all," she added.

Source: Al Jazeera

TURKISH LEGISLATORS BRAWL OVER DISPUTED BILL

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's parliament has approved a bill that would tighten the government's grip on a judicial body after a tense, all-night session that saw two legislators injured in a brawl.

The legislation, which would give the Justice Ministry increased control over a council which appoints and oversees judges and prosecutors, was endorsed Saturday.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government proposed the bill as it fights a corruption scandal that implicated people close to him.

Erdogan claims the corruption charges are a conspiracy orchestrated by followers of an Islamic movement which he insists has infiltrated the police and judiciary. The opposition says the bill, which still needs the president's approval, limits the judiciary's independence.

Media reports said one legislator was hospitalized with a broken nose. Another broke a finger.

Egypt bans Turkish Diplomats for Interference into Egypt’s Internal Affairs

The Egyptian Government of interim P.M. El-Biblawi, has banned Turkish Diplomats from Egypt for interference into the country’s internal affairs. The announcement followed last week’s revelation, that Turkey’s intelligence service MIT is behind the establishment of the Istanbul based TV channel Rada as a propaganda instrument for Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood. El-Biblawi warns that Egypt is facing a psychological war.

Egypt’s interim Prime Minister, Dr. Hazem el-Biblawi, has announced that the government is prepared to confront schemes by the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), adding that the government will use its force and full wisdom in confronting these schemes, reports Egypt’s State Information Service.

El-Biblawi added, that Egypt is facing a psychological war. El-Biblawi’s announcement was made during a press conference, following a Cabinet meeting.

The Egyptian interim Prime Minister announced the commencement of a diplomatic embargo against the AKP – led government of Turkey’s Prime Minister R. Tayyip Erdogan and added, that the embargo will be maintained until the AKP stops interfering into Egypt’s internal affairs.

Hakan Fidan, MIT behind Rabia TV

The announcement of the diplomatic embargo follows the expulsion of Turkey’s ambassador and the downgrading of diplomatic relations in late November, and the recent disclosure that Turkey´s National Security Service (MIT) is behind the establishment of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood’s new TV channel Rabia in Istanbul.

On Monday, nsnbc international reported, that Rabia has been founded by Turkey’s National Security Service (MIT) and under the leadership of the undersecretary of the intelligence service, Hakan Fidan.

The establishment of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood’s TV channel by Turkey’s intelligence service MIT comes against the backdrop of a political and military reorganization of the Qatar-based international Muslim Brotherhood as well as Muslim Brotherhood organizations in Northern Africa and the Middle East, after the Libyan, Tunisian and Turkish MB increasingly began to lose political influence.

The ousting of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, who planned to deploy the Egyptian military to fight against the Syrian Arab Army, has added to the decline of the Muslim Brotherhoods power in the region, and has been a severe blow to Core NATO member state’s attempt to oust the government of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad.

The Egyptian ban on Turkish diplomat comes also against the backdrop of an increasing amount of evidence that suggests, that the Turkish government of P.M. Erdogan, the international and national MB organizations as well as the intelligence services of the USA and other core NATO members attempted to subvert Egypt, to throw it into a crisis and civil war, and to seize control over the Sinai peninsula and the Suez Canal.

ERDOGAN RETURNS TO FACE PROTESTS IN TURKEY

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's prime minister was walking a political tightrope Thursday as he headed home from a four-day trip abroad to face massive anti-government protests that have mushroomed to dozens of cities across the country.

Speaking before leaving Tunisia to fly back to Istanbul, Recep Tayyip Erdogan attempted a balancing act. He appeared to soften his tone in an effort not to inflame protesters who see him as increasingly autocratic, while not conceding enough to appear weak to the base that has helped him win three landslide elections.

Thousands of supporters thronged the airport for his arrival, chanting "We are with you, Erdogan," in the first major public show of backing for the prime minister. Hundreds marched among the cars of traffic-clogged streets towards the airport, waving Turkish flags and chanting "Istanbul don't sleep, defend your leader."

Erdogan's reaction will be decisive in determining whether the demonstrations fizzle out or rage on. So far, a police officer and two protesters have died and thousands have been injured in nearly a week of clashes with the police.

His comments don't appear to have swayed many of the thousands of protesters who thronged central Istanbul's Taksim Square for a sixth day Thursday. More than 10,000 others filled a busy street in a middle class area of Ankara.

"I do not believe his sincerity," said protester Hazer Berk Buyukturca.

Turkey's main stock market revealed the fears that Erdogan's comments would do little to defuse the protesters, with the general price index plunging by 8 percent after his comments on concerns that continuing unrest would hit the country's economy.

In his comments in Tunisia, Erdogan acknowledged that some Turks were involved in the protests out of environmental concerns, and said he had "love and respect" for them.

"His messages were a lot softer than when he left. But they were not soft enough," said Sukru Kucuksahin, columnist and political commentator for Hurriyet Newspaper. "On the other hand, I don't think that the demonstrations will continue with such intensity forever."

The protests started last week over objections to Erdogan's plan to uproot the square's Gezi Park to make way for a replica Ottoman barracks and shopping mall. Police's extensive use of tear gas and water cannons outraged many and sent thousands flooding into the square to support what had, until then, been a small protest.

Over the past week the demonstrations have spread to 78 cities, growing into public venting of what protesters perceive to be Erdogan's increasing arrogance. That includes attempts to impose what many say are restrictive mores on their personal lives, such as how many children to have or whether to drink alcohol.

Erdogan rejects the claims, saying he is a servant of the people.

In Tunisisa, he claimed terrorists had gotten involved in the protests, saying an outlawed left-wing militant group that carried out a suicide bombing on the U.S. Embassy in Ankara in February was taking part.

"They are involved. They have been caught in the streets and on social media," he said.

He also stuck to his determination that Taksim Square would be redeveloped — although he said the plan would include the planting of trees and the construction of a theater and opera. He had earlier said the plans included the construction of a shopping mall.

Erdogan said the Islamic-rooted government had already apologized for the violent police crackdown on the Taksim sit-in, but that tear gas was used everywhere in the world to break up protests.

"Demands cannot be made through illegal means," he said. The prime minister has insisted that democracy happens only at the ballot box, dismissing the demonstrators as an extremist fringe. Erdogan has seen his support steadily rise since he first won elections in 2002 and garnered nearly 50 percent of the vote in the 2011 ballot.

But his critics — and some members of his traditional support base of religious, conservative Muslims — point out that even with half the electorate behind him, he cannot ignore the wishes of the other 50 percent.

"As a leader you have responsibilities and duties toward your people, even if you don't share their beliefs," said Osman Emre Uygun, a restaurant owner in Istanbul's Hurriyet Mahallesi neighborhood, a traditionally conservative, Erdogan-supporting area.

"That means even if they are not Muslim, you have to defend their rights. We want some common sense. We want him to listen to the protesters and their demands."

Koray Caliskan, professor of political science and international relations at Bosporus University, pointed out that "Turkey is absolutely at a crossroad. Erdogan won't be able to point at Turkey as a model of democracy anymore."

The prime minister, he said, was maintaining a hard line because "until now Erdogan had always gained support by increasing the tension in the country."

Caliskan said the prime minister was surrounded by people too afraid to confront him and was out of touch with what was really happening in protests on the streets of Istanbul and Ankara.

"He couldn't see that there were also people from his grass roots there. There are cracks within his party."

More than anything, it was the violent police response to what was initially a peaceful sit-in in one of Istanbul's last remaining parks that galvanized his opponents.

"Erdogan's solid legend evaporated as tear gas rained over Turkey," Caliskan said.

Interior Minister Muammer Guler insisted police abuses were being investigated. He said police only dispersed protests that had turned violent, and that many officers had acted with restraint despite provocations.

Huseyin Celik, deputy leader of Erdogan's Islamic-rooted party, said the government is sympathetic to secular-minded Turks' concerns and is prepared to take steps to "eliminate" their fears.

So far, 4,300 people have been hurt or sought medical attention for the effects of tear gas during the protests, the Turkish Human Rights Foundation said. One person is on life support in Ankara.

Interior Minister Muammer Guler said more than 500 police officers had been injured. A total of 746 protests had erupted, causing some 70 million Turkish Lira ($37 million) in damages, he said. Nearly 80 protesters were still hospitalized, and almost all detained protesters had been released.

Officials said seven foreign nationals were detained during the protests: two Iranians, two French, an American, a Greek and a German.

ACTIVISTS PRESENT LIST OF DEMANDS IN TURKEY

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Activists on Wednesday presented a list of demands they said could end days of anti-government demonstrations that have engulfed Turkey, as police detained 25 people they accused of using social media to stoke the outpouring of anger.

In a move to defuse the tension, the deputy prime minister met with a group whose attempt to prevent authorities from ripping up trees in Istanbul's landmark Taksim Square has snowballed into nationwide protests against what demonstrators see as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's increasingly authoritarian rule.

Police have deployed water cannons and tear gas has clouded the country's city centers. The Ankara-based Human Rights Association says close to 1,000 people have been injured and more than 3,300 people have been detained over five days of protests.

The activist group denounced Erdogan's "vexing" style and urged the government to halt Taksim Square redevelopment plans, ban the use of tear gas by police, the immediate release of all detained protesters and the lifting of restrictions on freedom of expression and assembly.

It also demanded that officials — including governors and senior police officials — responsible for the violent crackdown be removed from office.

The protests appear to have developed spontaneously and remain leaderless. It was not at all certain that the tens of thousands of protesters would heed any call by the group to cease.

The group of academics, architects and environmentalists, known as the "Taksim Solidarity Platform," was formed to protect Taksim Square from development, including the rebuilding of an Ottoman army barracks and a shopping mall. The protests were sparked by fury over a heavy-handed pre-dawn police raid Friday to roust activists camping out in an attempt to stop the plans.

Protests appeared to calm a bit on Wednesday, even as thousands of trade union members on a two-day strike marched to Taksim and to central Ankara.

Some demonstrations were largely jovial. In Ankara, protesters called themselves "looters." A sign on a stall in Taksim providing free food and water read "Revolution Market."

But there were scattered violent clashes overnight on roads leading to Erdogan's offices in Ankara and Istanbul, as well as in the city of Antakya, near the Syrian border, where a protester was killed Wednesday from an apparent blow to the head.

Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc, who is standing in for Erdogan while he is on a trip to Northern Africa, has offered an olive branch to protesters, apologizing for what he said was a "wrong and unjust" crackdown on the sit-in. Erdogan had inflamed protesters, calling them "looters" and extremists, and refusing to back away from plans to revamp Taksim.

"The steps the government takes from now on will define the course of society's reaction," Eyup Muhcu, the head of a chamber of architects, told reporters after meeting with Arinc.

Police meanwhile, detained 25 people for "spreading untrue information" on social media and allegedly inciting people to join the protests, the state-run agency reported. They were detained late Tuesday in the city of Izmir, western Turkey, the Anadolu Agency said. Police were looking for 13 others, it added.

The people were wanted for allegedly "inciting enmity and hatred," the agency said. A lawyer for the suspects denied that claim.

I have look at (their) files and examined the tweets," the Radikal newspaper quoted lawyer Sevda Erdan Kilic as saying. "There is nothing there to provoke the people (into rioting). They are sentiments that we all share."

It was not immediately clear what the Twitter comments were.

Turkey's main broadcast media have been criticized for shunning the coverage of police brutality at the protest onset. Many people turned to social media to keep up to date.

Erdogan has referred to social media as "the worst menace to society."

MAN SUSPECTED IN NYC WOMAN'S DEATH NABBED IN SYRIA

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Istanbul's police chief says a man suspected of killing a New York City woman in Istanbul was caught in Syria in a joint operation by Syrian rebels and Turkish officials.

Huseyin Capkin contradicted a statement by the interior minister who had said the suspect was detained at the border as he entered Turkey.

Istanbul Governor Avni Mutlu says the suspect has confessed to killing Sarai Sierra, whose body was found in Istanbul on Feb. 2, days after she was reported missing during a solo vacation. Authorities say she died of a blow to the head. 

A video reportedly recorded in Syria, and posted on Hurriyet newspaper's website, shows the purported suspect saying he was under the influence of paint thinner during the incident.

Turkish news reports have described him as a homeless scrap paper collector.

TURKEY POLICE: NYC WOMAN KILLED BY BLOW TO HEAD

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish police say a New York City woman who went missing and was later found dead in Istanbul had suffered a fatal blow to the head.

Istanbul police chief Huseyin Capkin said Sunday that forensic experts had not concluded their autopsy report on the victim, Sarai Sierra, but that it was "clear" the head injury caused her death.

NTV, a Turkish broadcaster, says 15 people have been detained for questioning in the case.

Sierra, a 33-year-old mother of two, was last heard from on Jan. 21, the day she was to fly home from a vacation. Her body was discovered Saturday evening near the remnants of ancient city walls.