-- They've faced off with police on the streets of Istanbul, breathed in tear gas, braved water cannons, and hoped and prayed the protest camp they set up in a downtown park won't be overtaken.
On Wednesday, some of
their leaders are set to sit down face to face with the man they railed
against as being too stubborn, too heavy-handed, too dictatorial:
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
What began in late May as
a demonstration focused on the environment -- opposition to a plan to
build a mall in Istanbul's Gezi Park -- has evolved into a crusade
against Erdogan that's spread around the country.
The official response has
fanned the fury of protesters. Many of them are young professionals who
considered themselves apolitical but now feel moved to action given
what they see as an unnecessarily harsh, obstinate government.
"We want to be heard,
respected ..." a woman in Gezi Park told CNN's Arwa Damon on Tuesday
night. "We're not vandals, we're not criminals."
But while Erdogan promised to hear from some of them Wednesday, whether he'll act differently is another matter entirely.
In remarks Tuesday during
a meeting of members of his own Justice and Development Party, the
prime minister insisted, "We will never allow people to push things to
us." And at one point, he directly addressed those in Taksim Square and
in other cities around Turkey, including Ankara, the capital.
"They say the prime
minister is harsh. The prime minister is firm," he said, addressing his
detractors. "I'm sorry. The prime minister is not going to change."
And he intends to show that there are multitudes in the country who support him.
Next weekend, Erdogan's
religious, conservative Justice and Development Party will stage rallies
in his support. One begins Saturday evening in Ankara, while another is
planned in Istanbul late Sunday.
Chaotic chorus of tear gas, fireworks, stun grenades
From Tuesday morning
into the wee hours of Wednesday, police punctuated the air around Taksim
Square and the adjacent Gezi Park with tear gas, water cannons and stun
grenades. Protesters added to the unsettling, chaotic chorus with
fireworks, metal banging and defiant chants.
The effort began with the arrival of armored vehicles to shove away makeshift barriers.
Several protesters
linked arms to form a human chain and prevent the police advance. But
when police deployed canisters of tear gas, they scattered.
"If you stop throwing
rocks, we will not use tear gas," the police told the raucous group over
loudspeakers. "We don't want you to get hurt; please obey."
In a game of
cat-and-mouse, demonstrators -- some using wooden boards as shields --
would pull back only to return to spots in and around Taksim Square,
lobbing Molotov cocktails and firecrackers and flashing "victory" signs.
The situation escalated
that evening, as tens of thousands fled after riot police stepped up
their dispersal of tear gas canisters toward the square.
But they didn't stay
away for long. Instead, thousands packed back into the square. Some
surrounded a large bonfire they fueled with whatever they could find, as
deafening bangs -- likely the result of stun grenades -- added to the
turmoil.
Time and again, there was a stretch of calm as the situation appeared to settle down, then a new flare-up.
It happened right after
midnight, for instance, when government forces shot water cannons and
tear gas toward the park and streets adjacent to the square.
Again, two hours later, a
fresh wave of tear gas engulfed Gezi Park -- where government officials
have said protesters can stay -- as a column of police broke through
barricades on a side street nearby. The scene was frenzied with sirens
blaring, people running, some even writhing in pain.
'This is how a violent person behaves'
It's not just Istanbul.
Police in Ankara fired
tear gas overnight Tuesday toward apparent protesters, as armored
vehicles cleared makeshift barricades along the street, video from CNN
Turk showed.
The approach Tuesday
marked an apparent return to the more heavy-handed tactics Turkish
authorities used in the early days of the protests.
Two protesters have been
killed since the demonstrations began in late May. One was hit by a car
in Istanbul; the other was shot in the head by unknown assailants in
Antakya, near the Syrian border. Plus, a police captain died after
falling from a bridge, according to the Adana governor's office.
The Turkish Medical
Association said that more than 4,300 people were injured in clashes
last week, a few dozen of them seriously.
The woman who spoke to
CNN on Tuesday night from Gezi Park said that she's seen classmates,
work colleagues and others who, like her, had never protested until now.
She said many have been angered and energized by the government's
response.
Pointing to a mask she had around her neck to protect against tear gas, she added, "This is how a violent person behaves."
Ibrahim Kalin, Erdogan's
chief adviser, said the government is simply do what it can to maintain
order after "very marginal" and, in some cases, "very illegal groups
... have tried to dominate the scene and occupy Taksim Square."
Another Erdogan ally,
parliamentarian Saban Disli, went even further in saying "peaceful
demonstrators ... are being used by terrorist groups" and blaming
opposition parties and "the international media" of crafting a false
image of the prime minister.
Anyone who thinks that
Erdogan, a former mayor of Istanbul, has changed since becoming prime
minister and will bend in the face of the protests is mistaken, Disli
told CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday night.
"This is not new Erdogan," he said.
New challenge for Erdogan after decade in power
Kalin defended the
police response, saying they acted like those authorities who faced mass
protests in places like Spain, Greece and during the Occupy Wall Street
movement in New York and elsewhere.
Still, the volatile situation threatens to hurt not only Turkey's image but also its economy and its standing in the world.
Bordering Syria, Iraq
and Iran, Turkey a NATO member and a key U.S. ally. Yet recent events
have caused "concern" in the United States, according to U.S. National
Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden.
"We are concerned by any
attempts to punish individuals for exercising their right to free
speech, as well as attempts by any party to provoke violence," Hayden
said. "We believe today's events reinforce the need to resolve this
situation through dialogue."
Whatever one's take on
Erdogan -- as a forward-looking statesman who has fueled Turkey's rise
or an authoritarian leader who has expanded his power without listening
to all people -- the prime minister is clearly in an unprecedented
position after more than a decade in power.
In speeches, Erdogan has
said he has no tolerance for what he calls illegal demonstrations,
slamming protesters and warning that "even patience has an end."
"All they do is destroy.
They attacked public buildings; they burned public buildings. They
burned the cars of civilians," he said.
"Let's face off at the
ballot box in seven months. If you are saying democracy and freedom, if
you are saying rights and freedoms, you cannot achieve that with
violence. Only within the laws, you can achieve it."
While few doubt Erdogan
was legitimately elected, the unrest highlights the fact that he's not
universally loved by Turks, despite the strong performance of the
nation's economy during his years as prime minister.
"It is ... a democracy
that is seeing deep splits between the one half that has voted for the
governing party, and one half that does not," said Soner Cagaptay from
the Washington Institute, a think tank focused on the Middle East and
the United States. "Despite its economic growth, (Turkey) is,
politically, very deeply polarized."
