Erdogan blames opposition for provoking protests

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accuses the country's main secular opposition party on Sunday of stirring a wave of anti-government protests, while thousands of leftist activists storm Istanbul and Ankara, The Jerusalem Post reports.

Calling the protesters 'looters', the prime minister blames the Republican People's Party (CHP) founded by Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) for using the enviromental issue for promoting an ideological dissent.

"We think that the main opposition party which is making resistance calls on every street is provoking these protests," Erdogan is quoted by The Jerusalem Post as saying on the Turkish television.