PM begins emergency talks with protesters

Turkish protest leaders went into emergency talks with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after demonstrators rejected his “last warning” to evacuate an Istanbul park at the center of mass anti-government protests. Thousands of defiant protesters spent another night under the stars in Gezi Park after rebuffing Erdogan’s olive branch to clear out in return for a referendum on the park’s planned redevelopment. The fight to save the park’s 600 trees prompted a brutal police crackdown two weeks ago, snowballing into nationwide protests against Erdogan and his Islamic-rooted government, seen as increasingly authoritarian. Taksim Solidarity representatives traveled to the capital Ankara for late-night talks with Erdogan, their first since the unrest began.

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