The Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has reproached his U.S. counterpart over four different statements that had come from Washington criticizing the police crackdown on Turkish protestors. Davutoğlu expressed his reaction to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry saying, “These sorts of incidents happen everywhere and they are considered unexceptional. Then why are they regarded extraordinary when happening in Turkey?”
Following the fourth statement from Washington since last week, most recently on Tuesday from Vice President Joe Biden urging Turkey’s government to respect the rights of its political opponents, the Turkish foreign minister had Tuesday called his U.S. counterpart by phone to respond to criticisms over a violent crackdown against anti-government protesters.
The minister told Kerry about the nationwide demonstrations in Turkey, and said, “There is not a second class democracy in Turkey.”
“In democracies, these protests may happen. There is a right to demonstrations in Turkey. We respect peaceful demonstrators, but there are ones who abuse,” Davutoğlu told Kerry, citing those harming public property, according to the diplomat.
The minister recalled the protests on Wall Street in the U.S and said similar incidents were regarded as ordinary, but the ones in Turkey were considered extraordinary.
On the other hand, Russian President Vladimir Putin said they hoped the Turkish government could “find a solution to problems, which are not easy, set forth by opposition and civic society.”
Those protests would be discussed on legitimate platforms in such a way that people would hear each other, said Putin.
HDN
