Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a delegation of protesters in a closed-door meeting in Ankara that he would be willing to soften his approach to redevelopment in Istanbul’s central Gezi Park, the issue that originally sparked demonstrations. Erdogan said that he will not press ahead with razing the park while a court case to stop the construction is pending, saying that if he wins the court case, he will put the matter to a referendum in Istanbul, according to a spokesman and a member of an umbrella group for protesters.
Protesters hailed the move as a positive step hours after Erdogan had warned that his patience for the demonstrations was running out.
“The prime minister said that if the results of the public vote turned out in a way which would leave this area as a park, they will abide by it,” Tayfun Kahraman, a member of Taksim Solidarity, the umbrella protest group told reporters after the meeting, Reuters reported.
“His comments that the project will not be executed until the judiciary makes its decision is tonight’s positive result,” Kahraman said.
Erdogan’s decision was confirmed by a spokesman for his Justice and Development Party.
It was unclear whether the decision would be enough to put an end to the protests, which are largely leaderless and comprised of demands that range far beyond the issue over the park. Many on Thursday said the meeting with representatives from Taksim Solidarity was a positive step, but the group does not speak on behalf of all the protesters. Members of the delegation in Ankara said that they would take the news back to Taksim Square on Friday to see what the thousands of people encamped there thought of the decision.
Many protesters have been skeptical of plans for a referendum, saying that they do not believe elections can be fair when Erdogan holds tight sway over the media. Others mistrust the judiciary, saying that Erdogan controls them too.
Many rejected the idea of a referendum.
“It’s a silly sign of democracy,” said Burcu Gozetici, 30, a dentist. “We’ve seen lots of referendums in Turkey. But we don’t believe the electoral system is fair.”
If one clear winner has emerged in the battle over personal freedoms in Turkey, it may be modern Turkey’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
As Erdogan met Thursday for the first time with representatives from some of the main groups behind the protests that have swept his country for two weeks, Ataturk flags fluttered on both sides of the conflict.
For years, Erdogan and his conservative Islamist associates have been unenthusiastic about Ataturk, resentful of his legacy of such strict secularism that until recently women who wear head scarves could not attend college. But with Erdogan on Thursday delivering a “final warning” to protesters, his forces have embraced Ataturk’s image — an effort, critics say, to justify a pending crackdown and to pit the demonstrations against the Turkish nation.
NEWS SOURCE:http://www.washingtonpost.com
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