Turkish President Abdullah Gül says radical groups wanted to abuse the Gezi protests in order to create chaos in the country, underlining that the demonstrations themselves proved the democratic character of Turkish society.
The president also reiterated his previous remarks, stressing that the government and himself have received the message about this dimension of the protests, while condemning the “radical groups conducting illegal actions exploiting the protests,” Hürriyet Daily News reports.
President Gül also believes the much-criticized intervention of the Turkish police was needed. According to him, the same would happen in New York if similar incidents occurred.
“I want to remind you of this: if you tell us to be tolerant there, what would New York do if hundreds of people gathered on 5th Avenue and set tires on fire in the middle of the street, sometimes in the daytime and sometimes at 10 p.m. at night? Istanbul’s police are doing what they would do,” the president is quoted as saying by Hürriyet Daily News.
