Turkey’s leader offered protesters concessions early Friday, officials and protesters said, in a step that may help quiet the demonstrations that have swept the country for two weeks.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a delegation of protesters in a closed-door meeting in Ankara that he would be willing to soften his approach to redevelopment in Istanbul’s central Gezi Park, the issue that originally sparked demonstrations.
Erdogan said that he will not press ahead with razing the park while a court case to stop the construction is pending, saying that if he wins the court case, he will put the matter to a referendum in Istanbul, according to a spokesman and a member of an umbrella group for protesters.
Protesters hailed the move as a positive step hours after Erdogan had warned that his patience for the demonstrations was running out.
“The prime minister said that if the results of the public vote turned out in a way which would leave this area as a park, they will abide by it,” Tayfun Kahraman, a member of Taksim Solidarity, the umbrella protest group told reporters after the meeting, Reuters reported.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he fears that Ukraine will become “a testing ground” for Russian munitions,...
An Israeli strike on a Lebanese army center on Sunday killed one soldier and wounded 18...
It’s official now. America’s closest ally, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the one accorded more than...
A British national has reportedly been captured by Russia’s forces in the Kursk region while fighting...
