Turkey defends democratic credentials as tear gas flies

Turkey’s embattled government insisted on Wednesday, June 5, 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. 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.

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