Turkish PM Warns Against Taksim Anniversary Protests

Turkey has seen tireless civil unrest sparked by a police crackdown on a local protest over an Istanbul park. Photo by EPA/BGNES.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has urged young Turks to ignore calls to mark the first anniversary of Istanbul's Taksim Square protests, Saturday.

Thousands of police officers and dozens of water cannon trucks are to be deployed to the square, according to media reports.

"One year later, people, including so-called artists, are calling for demonstrations, but you, Turkey's youth, you will not respond to the call," Erdogan told a crowd of a thousand young people in Istanbul.

"These terrorist organisations manipulated our morally and financially weak youth to attack our unity and put our economy under threat," Erdogan said, as quoted by international media.

A number of people were killed with thousands more injured in heavy-handed police crackdown after protests against plans to redevelop Istanbul's Gezi Park in 2013 turned into mass anti-government rallies.

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