Istanbul - Turkey's deputy prime minister apologized on Tuesday for the brutal police tactics that wounded protesters opposed to the demolition of an Istanbul park - a crackdown that has since sparked five days of anti-government demonstrations.
Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said the protest over a controversial building project in Gezi Park had been “legitimate and patriotic” and offered to meet with representatives on Wednesday, the Hurriyet daily reported.
However, he said the initial protest group's demands had been hijacked by “marginal and illegal groups.”
The violence meted out by police attempting to clear the Gezi Park protest camp on Friday triggered rioting in cities across the country, with protesters charging Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of gradually imposing Islamic rule on the secular country.
In contrast to the conciliatory tone struck by his deputy, Erdogan took a tougher line on Monday, calling the protesters “extremists” and “looters” and suggested they were orchestrated by “foreign powers.”
Protests continued Tuesday in Istanbul's central Taksim Square, the epicentre of the protests, with the number of confirmed deaths rising to two.
Abdullah Comert, 22, was struck in the head by an unknown assailant Monday in the southern city of Antakya and died in hospital, Turkish broadcaster NTV reported.
Comert was reportedly a member of the youth organisation of the Republican People's Party, the largest opposition party.
The first victim, 20-year-old Mehmet Ayvalitas, was also killed Monday when a car driver ignored warnings to stop for protesters at a demonstration in Istanbul, the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) said.
Since the protests began more than 2 300 people have been injured, the TTB said.
The Kesk union federation representing some 240 000 public sector workers began a two-day strike on Tuesday to protest what it called “state terror” against the demonstrators. Another union was considering joining the action.
In a parliamentary debate in Ankara, Interior Minister Muammer Guler said the protests had caused 70 million lira (about 30
million euros) worth of damage, news channel NTV reported.
World leaders have condemned the government's response to the protesters as disproportionate.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle called the protests a test for Erdogan.
“Now is the time the Turkish government can and must prove that it is serious about the modernization of Turkey,” he said in Berlin. The protests showed “an increasingly vibrant civil society” willing to raise their voices and demand their rights, he said. - Sapa-dpa