Turkey Protests Resume in Istanbul After Apology

The violent scenes came just hours after Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc apologized for the police response to initial protests last week

Police in the Turkish city of Istanbul have used tear gas and water cannon against protesters in a fifth night of anti-government demonstrations.

The clashes came hours after Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc apologised for the violent police response to initial protests last week.

Mr Arinc is due to hold a meeting with activists later on Wednesday.
Protests over the demolition of a park in Istanbul have grown into days of unrest across the country.

Mr Arinc apologised to protesters injured in demonstrations opposing the redevelopment of Gezi Park.
He said the original protests were "just and legitimate" and the "excessive use of force" by police was wrong.

Ahead of a proposed meeting in Istanbul, activists issued a list of demands, including the end of plans to demolish the park, a ban on tear gas, the release of arrested protesters and the resignation of top officials blamed for the protest crackdown, the BBC's Mark Lowen in Istanbul reports.

The atmosphere on Istanbul's Taksim Square on Tuesday evening was almost celebratory as a huge crowd of people ranging from football fans to well-heeled professionals gathered, the BBC's Paul Mason reported.

People have been chanting "Have you heard us?" in the hope the government is listening to their demands.
But later, police fired tear gas, water cannon and smoke grenades as they tried to disperse protesters.

In the city of Izmir, there was a festive atmosphere and police kept their distance, though some young protesters earlier smashed security cameras and threw bricks, the BBC's Quentin Sommerville reports.

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Canadian Transgender Bill Will 'Open Door to Pedophilia'

OTTAWA, Ontario — As the transgendered bill C-279 makes its way through the Senate, having passed second reading last week, a leading women's organization is warning the country that passage of the bill would open a Pandora's box eventually leading to the normalization of  "problematic sexual activities, including pedophilia".

"It's all in how the word 'gender identity' is defined," said Gwen Landolt, National Vice-President of REAL Women of Canada, to LifeSiteNews.com.
The bill, put forward by NDP LGBTT Critic Randall Garrison (Esquimalt - Juan de Fuca, BC), defines "gender identity" as an "individual's deeply felt internal and individual experience of gender, which may or may not correspond with the sex that the individual was assigned at birth."

Landolt explained that "gender identity" is a catch-all phrase that could be interpreted by activist courts to legitimize "any kind of sexual deviancy".
"This could include pedophilia, if that's their deeply felt experience of gender and if that's their sexual preference."

Landolt said that if Canada passes the bill, it will join Australia in the ranks of sexual anarchy.

The Australian Human Rights Commission has defined "gender identity" as a "broad term to refer to diverse sex and or gender identities and expressions. It includes being transgender, trans, transsexual and intersex. It also includes being androgynous, agender, a cross dresser, a drag queen, gender fluid, genderqueer, intergender, neutrois, pansexual, pan-gendered, a third gender, and a third sex…"

"It would seem, therefore, that this bill may have been brought before Parliament for purposes other than promoting sound public policy," stated REAL Women in a press release yesterday.

"Rather, it will be used to extend legal protection to other questionable sexual activities without having these matters exposed to Parliamentary debate."
"This devious manipulation, using the smokescreen of the transgendered bill to expand legal protection for other problematic sexual activities, is unacceptable as it is contrary to all democratic principles and to the health and safety of Canadian citizens."

Landolt said that a movement already exists that is lobbying western governments to enshrine adult sexual activity with children as the next "sexual orientation".

The North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA), a prominent pedophilia advocacy group, exists to "end the extreme oppression of men and boys in mutually consensual relationships".

When FBI undercover agent Bob Hamer infiltrated NAMBLA as an aging "boy lover", he discovered what he describes in his 2008 book The Last Undercover as an "organization of men seeking to legitimize their sexual attraction to boys".
"I was unable to view the group I'd be infiltrating with anything other than revulsion. How could I pretend to actually be one of them - without becoming physically ill or physically violent," he wrote.

Current top graphic and story on NAMBLA website
A 2011 academic conference in Baltimore, MD brought together researchers from several prominent universities to examine ways that adults who have sex with children could be destigmatized by rebranding them as "minor-attracted persons".

Conference attendees were told by researchers and experts in various fields that pedophiles are "unfairly stigmatized and demonized" by society, that "children are not inherently unable to consent" to sex with an adult, that an adult's desire to have sex with children is "normative," and that the "majority of pedophiles are gentle and rational."

In Canada, Dr. Hubert Van Gijseghem, a retired psychologist from the University of Montreal, told the House of Commons Justice Committee in 2011 that pedophilia is a "sexual orientation".

"Pedophiles are not simply people who commit a small offence from time to time but rather are grappling with what is equivalent to a sexual orientation just like another individual may be grappling with heterosexuality or even homosexuality," he said.

"True pedophiles have an exclusive preference for children, which is the same as having a sexual orientation. You cannot change this person's sexual orientation."
In a 2011 newsletter, REAL Women of Canada argued that legalizing pedophilia is the next logical step for activists pushing the homosexual agenda.
"Members of the homosexual community have also long been agitating for unrestricted sexual access to minors. This requires an amendment to the Criminal Code, which now prohibits pedophilia."

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Protests in Turkey Turn Deadly

Turkey's prime minister has rejected talk of a "Turkish spring", facing down the worst protests in his decade-long rule as fresh clashes erupted between police and demonstrators in Ankara.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan defied protesters who accuse him of seeking to impose conservative Islamic reforms on secular Turkey, stressing that he was democratically elected.
"Was there a multi-party system in the Arab Spring countries?" he said in televised comments.

Police in the capital later fired tear gas and used water cannon to disperse stone-throwing demonstrators on the fourth day of violent protests that have swept scores of Turkish cities.

Rights groups say hundreds have been wounded in clashes nationwide that have pitted stone-throwing protesters against riot police since Friday.
In one incident, a 20-year-old Turkish man died when a taxi drove into a group of demonstrators on an Istanbul highway, also injuring four others.
Mr Erdogan's ally, president Abdullah Gul, urged calm and promised protesters that their voice had been heard.

"The messages delivered with good intentions have been received," he was quoted as saying quoted by the Anatolia news agency.
Mr Erdogan struck a harder tone, vowing "we will stand firm" against the protests and promising his supporters "we'll overcome this".

With Turkey's allies calling for restraint and international human rights groups denouncing the police crackdown, Mr Gul acknowledged the demonstrators' right to protest but called for an end to the clashes.
"Democracy does not only mean elections," he said, adding: "I am calling on all my citizens to abide by the rules and state their objections and views in a peaceful way, as they have already done."

Mr Erdogan had earlier denounced demonstrators as "vandals".

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Blair Warns of 'Profound, Dangerous' Islamist Threat

Former British prime minister Tony Blair warned Sunday that the Islamist ideology allegedly behind the murder of a British soldier in a London street was "profound and dangerous".

Blair, now an international Middle East peace envoy, said it was time to admit the breadth of a "strain within Islam" harbouring views incompatible with free societies.

Blair, a Roman Catholic who says he reads the Koran daily, said most Muslims in Britain would be horrified at the murder of Lee Rigby on May 22.
"There is not a problem with Islam," he wrote in The Mail a Sunday newspaper.

"There is a problem within Islam - from the adherents of an ideology which is a strain within Islam. And we have to put it on the table and be honest about it.
"I am afraid this strain is not the province of a few extremists. It has at its heart a view about religion and about the interaction between religion and politics that is not compatible with pluralistic, liberal, open-minded societies.

"At the extreme end of the spectrum are terrorists, but the world view goes deeper and wider than it is comfortable for us to admit. So by and large we don't admit it."

He said that made Islamic extremists think "we are weak", which in turn makes those within Islam who want to tackle the issue "lose heart".
The former Labour Party leader said revolutionary communism was resisted by being resolute on security, "but we defeated it by a better idea: freedom. We can do the same on this.

"The better idea is a modern view of religion and its place in society and politics.
"Religion must have a voice in the political system but not govern it."
Blair suggested that the "problem within Islam" could start to be tackled by "educating children about faith".

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Egyptian Christian Lawyer Convicted of Blasphemy

ASSIUT, Egypt (AP) — An Egyptian court has convicted a Coptic Christian lawyer in the southern province of Assiut on charges of blasphemy and sentenced him to one year in prison with hard labor. 

The verdict against Roman Murad Saad was handed down on Saturday. It's the latest in a surge of blasphemy cases following Egypt's 2011 uprising.

Saad was sentenced in absentia. If he's arrested or surrenders to authorities, he will be given a retrial and will have to pay 10,000 Egyptians pounds (around $1,400) in fines.

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Porn Meets Religion at Exxxotica Convention in Fort Lauderdale

While Teen Mom-star-turned-porn-actress Farrah Abraham may be the most popular attraction at the Exxxotica convention this weekend in Fort Lauderdale, there’s a new kid on the block of booths with hardcore DVDs, porn actress autographs, erectile help and S&M whips.

There’s the booth of BeLoved, a new Miami Beach church that ministers to those who work in the sex business.

Manned by half a dozen Christians who promise not to judge, the booth adorned with its “Jesus loves porn stars” logo was seeing a steady flow of conventioneers during Friday’s packed opening night.
“Look at how many people are at this convention,” said pastor Timothy Savage, whose ex-stripper wife founded the ministry. “It’s proof that western culture has fully embraced the medium of porn. It’s not going anywhere.

“So, it makes sense to minister to it instead of fighting it.”

Savage’s faithful, up to 40, gather at 8 a.m. Sundays at the Miami Tattoo Co. parlor on Washington Avenue for prayer and nondenominational fellowship. Most work in strip bars and may stumble into his services straight from the job.

“Our message is that Jesus loves everybody, even porn stars and strippers and swingers. We’re not encouraging anyone to quit what they’re doing.”

This, however, doesn’t mean that Savage and his followers condone what goes on in porn, strip bars or massage parlors.
A former hip-hop DJ and frequent brothel visitor, Savage calls those who leave the sex industry “survivors.”
“As in everything that’s pleasurable, there are addictions involved,” he said.

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Polyamorists Hope to Gain Same Legal Recognition As Other Canadian Couples

 

While Canada's polyamorists - people with multiple partners outside a religious context - do not face criminalization as do polygamists, it is not enough for them to be considered "just not illegal," they said on Sunday.

As the Canadian Polyamory Advocacy Association wrapped up its three-day convention, the first of its kind to be held in Canada, the association's director and conference chair Zoe Duff said polyamorists hope to one day gain the same legal recognition as other couples.

"It would be nice ... to have households where our spouses are equal under the law, and moving forward in terms of pensions, and inheritances and property division," she said.
Unlike polygamy, there is no law in Canada that specifically bans polyamory. Polyamorists also distinguish themselves from polygamists, saying that while polygamy consists of men taking multiple wives usually within a religious context, polyamory is consensual, secular and egalitarian.

"There's informed consent between the partners, so you can have multiple partners but they all know what's going on, they most often know each other," said Duff. "There's back-and-forth input in terms of what people are comfortable with at the get go. None of that will be found in polygamy at all."

Polyamory came to the forefront in 2011, when B.C. Supreme Court upheld Canada's polygamy law after the province launched a constitutional reference case to clarify the law. At the time, the polyamory community was worried it would be targeted if the law was upheld.

The constitutionality case was prompted after polygamy charges against two leaders of divided factions of the Mormon sect, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, were thrown out in 2009.
The sect, prominent in the tiny community of Bountiful in southeastern B.C., condones polygamy. However, prosecution against the two rival leaders, Winston Blackmore and James Oler, failed because the court ruled that their rights were violated when the government chose its prosecutors.

Two years later, B.C. Supreme Court concluded that even though the ban against polygamy infringes on religious freedoms, the harms associated with the practice, such as child brides and sexual abuse, outweigh those rights.
The Canadian Polyamory Advocacy Association was an intervenor in the 2011 case, and saw the B.C. Supreme Court decision as a victory because the decision also concluded that anti-polygamy laws shouldn't apply to polyamorous couples unless they decide to get married.

Duff said the judge was unclear on what he meant with regards to marriage, however she added that striving for that clarity, and eventually for legal status, won't be happening anytime soon.
For the time being, the polyamorous community is focusing on raising awareness about the movement, connecting people within the community with each other, and providing people with resources such as legal advice or counselling.

The three-day convention, called "Claiming our Right to Love," included workshops on how to deal with jealousy within a polyamorist relationship, how family laws affect polyamorist households, and how newcomers to existing polyamorist relationships can be treated ethically.
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Ayaan Hirsi Ali: The Problem of Muslim Leadership

Another Islamist terror attack, another round of assurances that it had nothing to do with the religion of peace.

By AYAAN HIRSI ALI

I've seen this before. A Muslim terrorist slays a non-Muslim citizen in the West, and representatives of the Muslim community rush to dissociate themselves and their faith from the horror. After British soldier Lee Rigby was hacked to death last week in Woolwich in south London, Julie Siddiqi, representing the Islamic Society of Britain, quickly stepped before the microphones to attest that all good Muslims were "sickened" by the attack, "just like everyone else."

This happens every time. Muslim men wearing suits and ties, or women wearing stylish headscarves, are sent out to reassure the world that these attacks have no place in real Islam, that they are aberrations and corruptions of the true faith.

But then what to make of Omar Bakri? He too claims to speak for the true faith, though he was unavailable for cameras in England last week because the Islamist group he founded, Al-Muhajiroun, was banned in Britain in 2010.

Instead, he talked to the media from Tripoli in northern Lebanon, where he now lives. Michael Adebolajo—the accused Woolwich killer who was seen on a video at the scene of the murder, talking to the camera while displaying his bloody hands and a meat cleaver—was Bakri's student a decade ago, before his group was banned.

 "A quiet man, very shy, asking lots of questions about Islam," Bakri recalled last week. The teacher was impressed to see in the grisly video how far his shy disciple had come, "standing firm, courageous, brave. Not running away."

Bakri also told the press: "The Prophet said an infidel and his killer will not meet in Hell. That's a beautiful saying. May God reward [Adebolajo] for his actions . . . I don't see it as a crime as far as Islam is concerned."

The question requiring an answer at this moment in history is clear: Which group of leaders really speaks for Islam? The officially approved spokesmen for the "Muslim community"? Or the manic street preachers of political Islam, who indoctrinate, encourage and train the killers—and then bless their bloodshed?

Islamic Society of Britain/Reuters

Julie Siddiqi, executive director of the Islamic Society of Britain; Omar Bakri, a radical Muslim cleric barred from Britain.

In America, too, the question is pressing. Who speaks for Islam? The Council on American-Islamic Relations, America's largest Muslim civil-liberties advocacy organization? Or one of the many Web-based jihadists who have stepped in to take the place of the late Anwar al-Awlaki, the American-born al Qaeda recruiter?

Some refuse even to admit that this is the question on everyone's mind. Amazingly, given the litany of Islamist attacks—from the 9/11 nightmare in America and the London bombings of July 7, 2005, to the slayings at Fort Hood in Texas in 2009, at the Boston Marathon last month and now Woolwich—some continue to deny any link between Islam and terrorism. This week, BBC political editor Nick Robinson had to apologize for saying on the air, as the news in Woolwich broke, that the men who murdered Lee Rigby were "of Muslim appearance."

Memo to the BBC: The killers were shouting "Allahu akbar" as they struck. Yet when complaints rained down on the BBC about Mr. Robinson's word choice, he felt obliged to atone. One can only wonder at people who can be so exquisitely sensitive in protecting Islam's reputation yet so utterly desensitized to a hideous murder explicitly committed in the name of Islam.

In the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing and the Woolwich murder, it was good to hear expressions of horror and sympathy from Islamic spokesmen, but something more is desperately required: genuine recognition of the problem with Islam.

Muslim leaders should ask themselves what exactly their relationship is to a political movement that encourages young men to kill and maim on religious grounds. Think of the Tsarnaev brothers and the way they justified the mayhem they caused in Boston. Ponder carefully the words last week of Michael Adebolajo, his hands splashed with blood: "We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you. The only reason we have done this is because Muslims are dying every day."

My friend, the Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh, was murdered in 2004 for having been insufficiently reverent toward Islam. In the courtroom, the killer looked at Theo's mother and said to her: "I must confess honestly that I do not empathize with you. I do not feel your pain. . . . I cannot empathize with you because you are an unbeliever."

And yet, after nearly a decade of similar rhetoric from Islamists around the world, last week the Guardian newspaper could still run a headline quoting a Muslim Londoner: "These poor idiots have nothing to do with Islam." Really? Nothing?

Of course, the overwhelming majority of Muslims are not terrorists or sympathetic to terrorists. Equating all Muslims with terrorism is stupid and wrong. But acknowledging that there is a link between Islam and terror is appropriate and necessary.

On both sides of the Atlantic, politicians, academics and the media have shown incredible patience as the drumbeat of Islamist terror attacks continues. When President Obama gave his first statement about the Boston bombings, he didn't mention Islam at all. This week, Prime Minister David Cameron and London Mayor Boris Johnson have repeated the reassuring statements of the Muslim leaders to the effect that Lee Rigby's murder has nothing to do with Islam.
But many ordinary people hear such statements and scratch their heads in bewilderment. A murderer kills a young father while yelling "Allahu akbar" and it's got nothing to do with Islam?

I don't blame Western leaders. They are doing their best to keep the lid on what could become a meltdown of trust between majority populations and Muslim minority communities.

But I do blame Muslim leaders. It is time they came up with more credible talking points. Their communities have a serious problem. Young people, some of whom are not born into the faith, are being fired up by preachers using basic Islamic scripture and mobilized to wage jihad by radical imams who represent themselves as legitimate Muslim clergymen.

I wonder what would happen if Muslim leaders like Julie Siddiqi started a public and persistent campaign to discredit these Islamist advocates of mayhem and murder. Not just uttering the usual laments after another horrifying attack, but making a constant, high-profile effort to show the world that the preachers of hate are illegitimate. After the next zealot has killed the next victim of political Islam, claims about the "religion of peace" would ring truer.

Ms. Hirsi Ali is the author of "Nomad: My Journey from Islam to America" (Free Press, 2010). She is a fellow at the Belfer Center of Harvard's Kennedy School and a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

Source: The Wall Street Journal 

Syrian Rebels, Hezbollah in Deadly Fight in Lebanon

15 rebel fighters, one Hezbollah fighter reported killed in clashes with Hezbollah in Lebanon's border region with Syria.

 

Lebanon’s Hezbollah terrorists marching with flags Photo: Jamal Saidi/Reuters

 

 

BEIRUT - Several fighters were killed in an overnight clash between Hezbollah fighters and Syrian rebel forces in Lebanon's eastern border region with Syria, Lebanese security sources said on Sunday.

One source said 15 rebels were killed in the fighting east of the Bekaa Valley town of Baalbek, but the exact toll would not be clear until bodies could be retrieved from the remote and rugged border area. One Hezbollah fighter also died, he said.

Syria's two-year-old conflict has increasingly sucked in its smaller neighbor, with deadly fighting shaking the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli and rockets hitting the Bekaa Valley and southern Beirut.

Guerrillas from Shi'ite Muslim Hezbollah, which supports the Iranian-backed President Bashar Assad, are fighting alongside his army to drive rebels from the Syrian border town of Qusair, while Lebanese Sunni Muslim fighters have joined the anti-Assad revolt.

The latest fighting took place near Ain el-Jaouze in a finger of Lebanese territory which extends into Syria. The sources said the rebels may have been ambushed as they set up rockets to fire into Shi'ite areas of the Bekaa Valley.

Rebels have said they will carry out attacks inside Lebanon in response to Hezbollah's support for Assad's assault on Qusair, a strategic town for rebel weapons supplies and fighters coming into Syria from Lebanon.

The United Nations said on Saturday that up to 1,500 wounded people might be trapped inside Qusair and warned all sides that they would be held accountable for the suffering of civilians.



But Security Council diplomats said Russia blocked a council declaration of alarm over the two-week siege of Qusair, arguing that the council had done nothing when the town was first taken over by anti-Assad fighters.
The draft statement also urged forces loyal to Assad and rebels trying to oust him "to do their utmost to avoid civilian casualties and for the Syrian Government to exercise its responsibility to protect civilians".

It appealed to Assad's government "to allow immediate, full and unimpeded access to impartial humanitarian actors, including UN agencies, to reach civilians trapped in al-Qusair".

Moscow's move to block the statement highlights the deep chasm between Russia and Western nations on how to deal with the war in Syria despite joint efforts by Washington and Moscow to convene a peace conference on Syria.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius suggested on Sunday that the conference could take place in July. He said the Syrian government and the opposition must attend what he called "the last chance" for a negotiated solution.

"It's not just about getting round the table and then asking what are we going to talk about. It needs to be prepared. That is why I say that the July date would be suitable," Fabius said.

Assad has lost control of large areas of northern and eastern Syria but his forces have been fighting fierce counter-offensives in the south and center of the country, including Damascus, Deraa and Qusair.

The fighting has strengthened Assad's hand ahead of the proposed peace talks, which the 47-year-old leader says he supports in principle. However he has dampened prospects of any transfer of his powers to a transitional government - a central element of efforts to secure a political solution. Assad's opponents have also yet to commit to the peace talks.

The uprising against Assad, from the Alawite minority which is an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, has killed at least 80,000 people, driven 1.5 million refugees across its borders and fueled regional sectarian tensions.

Leading Sunni Muslim cleric Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi, based in Qatar which has led regional pressure for Assad's overthrow, called on Saturday for holy war against the Syrian government after intervention by Hezbollah, whose name in Arabic means the Party of God.

Source

Turkey's PM Rejects Dictator Claims, Calls Twitter A Menace

ISTANBUL, Turkey -- Turkey's prime minister on Sunday rejected claims that he is a "dictator," dismissing protesters as an extremist fringe, even as thousands returned to the landmark Istanbul square that has become the site of the fiercest anti-government outburst in years.

Over the past three days, protesters around the country have unleashed pent-up resentment against Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who after 10 years in office many Turks see as an uncompromising figure with undue influence in every part of life.

A huge, exuberant protest in Taksim Square subsided overnight, but an estimated 10,000 people again streamed into the area on Sunday, many waving flags, chanting "victory, victory, victory" and calling on Erdogan's government to resign.

A protester runs to avoid tear gas during the third day of nationwide anti-government protest near the Prime Minister's office at Besiktas area in Istanbul, late Sunday, June 2, 2013. (AP / Thanassis Stavrakis)

Protesters reinforce a barricade with stones during the third day of nationwide anti-government protest near the Prime Minister's office at Besiktas area in Istanbul, late Sunday, June 2, 2013. (AP / Thanassis Stavrakis)

Young Turks shout anti-government slogans as they clash with security forces in Ankara, Turkey, Sunday, June 2, 2013. (AP / Burhan Ozbilici)

Young Turks clash with security forces in Ankara, Turkey, Sunday, June 2, 2013. (AP / Burhan Ozbilici)

Photos

 

About 7,000 people took part in protests in Ankara, the capital, that turned violent on Sunday, with demonstrators throwing fire bombs and police firing tear gas. Scores of protesters were detained.

Some protesters have compared Erdogan to a sultan and denounced him as a dictator. Scrambling to show he was unbowed and appealing to a large base of conservative Turks who support him, Erdogan delivered two speeches on Sunday and appeared in a television interview.

With Turkish media otherwise giving scant reports about the protests, many turned to social media outlets for information on the unrest.
"There is now a menace which is called Twitter," Erdogan said. "The best examples of lies can be found there. To me, social media is the worst menace to society."

Under Erdogan's leadership, Turkey has boosted economic growth and raised its international profile. But he has been a divisive figure at home, with his government recently passing legislation curbing the sale of alcohol and taking a strong stand against the Syrian regime that some believe has put security at risk.

The demonstrations were ignited on Friday by a violent police crackdown on a peaceful sit-in to prevent the uprooting of trees at Taksim Square in Istanbul and have since spread around the country. The Turkish Doctors Association said the three days of demonstrations have left 1,000 people injured in Istanbul and 700 in Ankara.

Sunday's violence occurred in Ankara when the protesters tried to march toward Erdogan's office from the city's main square. A group of youths formed a barricade and hurled fire bombs or threw back gas canisters at police.
An Associated Press reporter saw at least eight injured people being carried away, and police appeared to directly target journalists with tear gas. The state-run Anadolu Agency said 200 demonstrators were detained.

In Istanbul's Taksim Square on Sunday, dozens of people climbed on the roof of a cultural centre that Erdogan says will be demolished and turned into an opera hall. A banner reading "Don't yield" was hung from the building.
"If they call someone who has served the people a 'dictator,' I have nothing to say," Erdogan said in an address to a group representing migrants from the Balkans. "My only concern has been to serve my country."

In another speech delivered an hour later, Erdogan said: "I am not the master of the people. Dictatorship does not run in my blood or in my character. I am the servant of the people."

Police and protesters also clashed violently on Friday and Saturday. Clouds of tear gas overwhelmed Istanbul's normally touristy city centre.
Interior Minister Muammer Guler said some 1,750 people had been detained since Tuesday, but most had since been released.

Erdogan called the protests "ideological" and manipulated by an opposition "unable to beat (the government) at the ballot box." He said 89 police vehicles, 42 private cars, four buses and 94 businesses were destroyed by the "vandalism" of the past two days.

Alluding to his party's strong base, Erdogan said he had the power to summon much larger numbers of his supporters at rallies. "Our supporters are calling and saying 'are we going to stay silent?' but I am urging calm," he said in an interview with Haberturk television.

Erdogan reiterated that his government would not back away from plans to uproot trees at Taksim as part of his urban renovation plans for the area. In a statement that could cause more controversy, he also declared that a mosque would be built at Taksim.

The mosque plans have long been contentious because it would further shrink the green spaces in Istanbul's city centre. Some argue that there are already plenty of mosques around Taksim.
"I am not going to seek the permission of the (the opposition) or a handful of looters," Erdogan said.

He also defended his government's environmental record, saying it had planted two billion trees and built 160 parks since coming to office in 2002.
In Berlin, meanwhile, about 500 people staged a peaceful solidarity protest outside the Turkish Embassy.

"The people are finally standing up, speaking up and fighting for their rights," said Hakan Tas, a deputy for the Left Party in Berlin's local assembly, who took part in the protest.

In Greece's second largest city, Thessaloniki, 1,000 people, many of them Turkish students, marched peacefully to the Turkish consulate, shouting slogans against Erdogan. Police blocked them from reaching the building.

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