Turkey defends democratic credentials as tear gas flies

Turkey's embattled government insisted on Wednesday it was "not a second-class democracy" even as police tear-gassed protesters who massed in the streets calling for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to quit. Bellowing to the din of drums and wailing Turkish pipes, teachers, doctors, bank staff and others marched in a sea of red and yellow union flags in the capital Ankara and in Istanbul, where they converged peacefully on Taksim Square, the epicentre of nearly a week of violent clashes. "Taksim, resist, the workers are coming!" they chanted in Istanbul, directing most of their anger at Erdogan, who has dismissed the protesters as "extremists" as he grapples with the biggest challenge to his decade in power. In Ankara, Turkish police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse crowds who joined mass demonstrations. The striking workers had earlier unfurled banners addressing Erdogan, reading: "This nation will not bow to you!" and "Taksim Square is everywhere!" Two people have been killed in the six days of unrest nationwide, according to doctors and officials. The national doctors' union said more than 4,000 had been injured, 43 of them severely, in protests police have sought to quell with tear gas, pepper spray and water cannon. Turkey's Western allies have voiced concern in recent days about reports of police violence but Ankara has hit back at criticism of its handling of the crisis, a foreign ministry source told AFP. "Turkey is not a second-class democracy," Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told US Secretary of State John Kerry in a phone call late on Tuesday, the diplomat said on condition of anonymity. Asked if that was Washington's view of its key NATO ally, State Department official Jen Psaki told reporters: "No." But she insisted "we have had concerns over the past couple of days about instances of police brutality," Psaki said. Davutoglu assured Kerry an investigation was under way into the police response and played down the demonstrations, likening them to the Occupy Wall Street movement in the US in 2011, the source said. The tough police action has hardened Turkey's protest movement, drawing in the labour unions that represent hundreds of thousands of Turks. "Erdogan needs to apologise, resign and go to court for the things he has done, for the excessive force," said Tansu Tahincioglu, a 26-year-old web entrepreneur in Istanbul. "Before, people were afraid to express their fear publicly. Even tweets are a problem. But now they are not afraid," he told AFP. The premier, who was due to return from a North Africa trip on Thursday, is seen as increasingly authoritarian and is accused of seeking to force conservative Islamic values on Turkey, a mainly Muslim but constitutionally secular nation. In the premier's absence, Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc on Tuesday apologised to wounded protesters and promised that the government had "learnt its lesson". Another deputy prime minister, Huseyin Celik, urged party supporters not to flock to the airport to welcome Erdogan home so as not to inflame tensions. "The prime minister does not need a show of power," he told a local television channel. At least 25 people were arrested in the western city of Izmir for "misleading and libellous" Twitter posts, according to the Anatolia news agency, after Erdogan accused the microblogging site of spreading "lies". Protesters rely heavily on social media to organise demonstrations. They have complained about a lack of coverage of the crisis by the mainstream media. -- List of demands -- In a further bid to soothe tensions, Arinc met with leaders of civil groups, including the movement whose initial protest sparked the nationwide demonstrations -- a campaign to save Istanbul's Gezi Park from redevelopment. In the meeting, protest representatives urged the government to fire the police chiefs of Istanbul and Ankara and other cities where security forces used excessive force to quell the unrest. They also demanded Ankara release hundreds of detained demonstrators and ban police from tear gassing demonstrators. Sitting at the crossroads of East and West, Turkey has long aspired to join the European Union, which sets strict requirements on human rights for prospective members. Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) first took power in 2002 and has won three elections in a row. But opponents accuse him of repressing critics and of pushing conservative Islamic policies such as religious education reforms and a law curbing the sale of alcohol. Erdogan told protesters they should wait to express their views in elections next year, when observers expect him to run for president.