Turkish government threatens to use army to end protests
The Turkish government has threatened to send in the army to quell protests that have swept Turkish cities in the last two weeks.
Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc told the state-run TRT television network that the army could be deployed to assist police and security forces if the protests continue.
The Turkish police "will use all their powers" to end social unrest, Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc declared in a televised interview. "If it's not enough, then the gendarmes will do their jobs. If that's not enough ... we could even use elements of the Turkish armed forces," he added.
The government official said the security forces acted within the boundaries of democracy and laws.
The deployment of the military would represent yet another escalation of a crisis that looked to be heading for a peaceful resolution as recently as Saturday, before Mr Erdogan ordered police in to clear protesters from Gezi Park with tear gas and rubber bullets. Meanwhile, Turkish Interior Minister Muammer Güler said the military would not be called to help end the ongoing street protests in Turkey.
Recently, social networks have announced that the police can no longer withstand the protests and the Ministry of Defence is likely to help the Interior Ministry.
The protests began on 28 May against a plan to redevelop Istanbul's Gezi Park, on the city's central Taksim Square, but it snowballed into nationwide anti-government protests after the perceived high-handed response of the authorities under their three-term prime minister. At least five people have been killed in Turkey in the past 20 years and thousands injured during the ongoing clashes between the protesters and police.
