Erdogan’s party rules out early election as Turkey protests continue

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkish police fired tear gas and used water cannons to disperse thousands of demonstrators as the country's biggest wave of anti-government protests in decades entered its second week with no signs of waning, Belfast Telegraph reported.

Prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's governing party, meanwhile, rejected calls for an early election and dismissed the protests as an attempt by the opposition to topple the government.

The protests, sparked by outrage over a violent police action to oust an environmental protest in Isanbul's Taksim Square on May 31, which have spread to dozens of cities, are the first serious challenge to Erdogan's leadership.

Three people have died - two protesters and a policeman - and thousands have been injured so far.

The protests have become a general condemnation of Erdogan, whom many consider to have grown authoritarian in his 10 years in power, and accuse of trying to introduce his religious and conservative mores in a country governed by secular laws.

He convened the leadership of his Justice and Development party to discuss the protests on Saturday, June 8.

Speaking after the meeting, party spokesman Huseyin Celik said rumours that the 2015 general election would be moved forward were "totally baseless, totally unnecessary, made-up and imaginary," Celik also accused the main opposition party of trying to topple Erdogan through illegitimate means, "having failed seven times to beat (the Justice party) in the ballot boxes".