ANKARA
Turkey's European Minister and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis said on Monday the ongoing anti-government protests had nothing to do with Taksim Gezi Park but they targeted Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
In a written statement, Bagis said Turkey was taking "the biggest strides to become a global power" but there were some circles "disturbed by Turkey's growth."
"Some feel humiliated as Turkey grows. Some have realized that they have been silenced as the society raised their voices. Some have lost sleep when we talked about justice and development [...] Today is the day for unity. Today is the day when resentments should be forgotten and left aside," Bagis said.
Bagis said protests initially started with environmental concerns but then they were exploited, adding, "those who cannot defeat us with their own efforts have begun exploiting the protests deceiving our children. But this society has not given any credit to those provocations in the past ten years and it will not after these ten days since the protests broke out."
Bagis said western media had made a mistake and revealed "hypocrisy by showing their feelings towards Turkey."
"Western media have made a mistake. They thought the protests in Turkey were similar to the ones in Egypt's Tahrir Square. They are not aware of the fact that Turkish nation had its liberation struggle in 2002 that is when the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party came into power [...] They had better not call these protests as a civil resistance. These protests have given a great deal of damage to Turkey," said Bagis.
Bagis said the protests were "an operation" to prevent Turkey and its economy from growing and ending terrorism.
englishnews@aa.com.tr
