June 6, 2013 -- Updated 1915 GMT (0315 HKT)
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan returns to Turkey on Thursday the
same way he left it four days earlier: With seething protesters on the
streets. FULL STORY
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PROTESTS TAKE FESTIVE TURN
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PROTESTERS DEFIANT
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PROTESTERS DEFIANT
June 6, 2013 -- Updated 1746 GMT (0146 HKT)
A man walks past damaged buses near Taksim Square on Thursday, June 6, in Istanbul, Turkey. The protests began as a demonstration against the planned demolition of Gezi Park and have grown to general anti-government dissent also spilling into the capital, Ankara.
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Anti-government riots erupt in Turkey
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- A stock market sell-off after the prime minister's speech concerns an analyst
- A police captain dies after falling from a bridge
- Conciliatory gestures appear to have had an impact
- Social media users are arrested for allegedly spreading false information
Are you in Turkey? Send your stories and photos to CNN iReport.
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The market plunge
punctuated a day of relative calm in Istanbul, where for the first time
in a week the sky wasn't clouded with tear gas.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
was in Tunisia, wrapping up a four-day trip to North Africa. He held a
Thursday news conference in Tunis that was broadcast live in Turkey, but
proved difficult to understand: His comments were translated from
Turkish to Arabic and then retranslated back to Turkish.
But in tweets from the
account of the Turkish Prime Ministry, Erdogan said, "Sensitivities of
people for environmental issues are abused. We already expressed our
sorrow for excessive use of force." Another read, "Unlawful methods for
claiming rights cannot be tolerated."
Within minutes, the
Turkish stock markets -- which had already dropped during the protests
-- took a fresh dive. The benchmark Borsa Istanbul 100 index plunged up
to 7.5% before recovering some of its losses. With no other important
statements or economic reports Thursday, it was clear the losses were
the result of Erdogan's speech, said Atilla Yesilada, financial analyst
for Istanbul Analytics.
"This is an unbelievable
sell-off," he said. "The pace of the losses suggest that there are now
no buyers in the market. That people are trying to get out with whatever
they can rescue as far as their prices."
On the streets, the
government's apology for excessive use of police force and its meetings
with opposition leaders and representatives of protesters camped out in
Istanbul's central Taksim Square appeared to have cooled tensions in the
commercial capital.
But a demonstration
nearly 1,000 kilometers southeast, in the city of Adana, resulted in the
first reported death of a police officer since the protests erupted.
Capt. Mustafa Sari died in hospital as a result of injuries suffered
when he plunged off a bridge Wednesday night, the Adana governor's
office told CNN.
The semiofficial
Anatolia News Agency reported the incident occurred while Sari was
"intervening in a group of illegal demonstrators."
Two protesters have been
killed in the demonstrations. One was hit by a car in Istanbul; the
other was shot in the head by unknown assailants in the border city of
Antakya.
More than 4,300 people have been wounded in clashes over the past week, the Turkish Medical Association said.
Erdogan was scheduled to
return Thursday night to Istanbul. Before he departed Monday, he
maintained a defiant tone, accusing demonstrators of being members of
"marginal groups," denouncing social media as a "menace to society" and
calling anyone who drinks alcohol an alcoholic.
But in his absence,
Turkish President Abdullah Gul and Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc
sought to reassure secular Turks that their lifestyle will be respected.
Still, protesters
returned Thursday to the centers of cities such as Ankara and Istanbul,
where the movement began over government plans to bulldoze a park.
United in anger
The demonstrators have
demanded Erdogan's resignation, accusing his government of creeping
authoritarianism. The demonstrations have united disparate groups
dissatisfied with Erdogan and angry over what protesters and
international critics have described as a heavy-handed response by
security forces.
The result has been the
biggest challenge to Erdogan and his governing Justice and Development
Party during their decade in power.
A familiar pattern
played out Wednesday in Ankara as demonstrators gathered peacefully in
the city center during the day. Police remained at a distance before
moving in at dusk with tear gas and water cannon to disperse the crowds.
Some protesters responded with rage, kicking police vans.
Social media arrests
In a separate move Wednesday, authorities arrested dozens of social media users on accusations of spreading false information about demonstrations.
Police detained 25
people and were searching for 13 more on accusations of using social
media networks such as Twitter to spread false details about
anti-government protests and police reaction to them, according to the
semiofficial Anadolu Agency news service.
The use of social
networking services by activists to share information and organize
protests has been widely credited with aiding popular uprisings in
Egypt, Libya and other countries.
It started with a park
The demonstrations in
Turkey started as a small sit-in over plans to bulldoze Gezi Park -- the
last green space in central Istanbul -- and replace it with a shopping
mall housed inside a replica of a 19th-century Ottoman barracks.
After riot police moved
in to break up the demonstration with tear gas and pepper spray,
protesters set up barricades and hurled bottles at police.
Analysts say the
protests have provided a channel for Turks alienated from and frustrated
by Erdogan's government. Opposition parties are weak and divided,
observers say, and have failed to convincingly challenge the governing
party during its decade in power.
But they also point to
widespread popular support for Erdogan. Under his government, the
Turkish economy has grown and his party has been rewarded with
comfortable victories at the ballot box.
CNN's Ivan Watson and Gul Tuysuz in
Istanbul, Nick Paton Walsh in Ankara, Jethro Mullen in Hong Kong and Tom
Watkins and Matt Smith in Atlanta contributed to this report.
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