At least 10 people have died and other 15 injured in an explosion in Istanbul’s Sultanahmet district near the Blue Mosque, the city authorities say.
Foreign tourists are reportedly among those hurt in the blast.
Some reports suggest the explosion was caused by a suicide bomber.
Turkish police have sealed off the area and the authorities are investigating the type of explosive used, the governor’s office said.
Norway’s foreign ministry said a Norwegian man injured in the blast was receiving treatment in hospital, Reuters reported.
Germany’s foreign ministry is investigating reports that German citizens have been hurt in the blast, German media reported.
The ministry has on its website urged German tourists in the city to avoid large crowds and tourist attractions and warned that further violent clashes and “terrorist attacks” are expected across Turkey.
In recent months there have been sporadic attacks by a far-left group in Istanbul, while violence has soared between Turkish forces and PKK Kurdish militants, mainly in southeast Turkey, after a ceasefire broke down.
Turkey has also been hit by bomb attacks blamed by prosecutors on ISIS.
Two suicide blasts in the capital Ankara in October killed more than 100 people and more than 30 people were killed in an attack near the border with Syria in July.
Dozens of provinces across Turkey have been hit by a major power blackout on Tuesday, March 31.
According to Turkish officials, a break in connections with mainland Europe could be to blame for the outage.
The cuts affected power stations and public transport, including Istanbul’s tram and metro systems.
A crisis centre has been set up at the energy ministry.
Photo Reuters
PM Ahmet Davutoglu has said all possible causes are being examined, including terrorism. The outage hit at 10:36 local time on Tuesday morning.
By early afternoon the Turkish Electricity Transmission company said only 15% of Istanbul and Ankara had power. Istanbul’s transport company said all of its lines were back up and running.
Turkish TV reported that power had been re-established in the cities of Edirne, Tekirdag, Erzurum and Trabzon.
“Our main target right now is to restore the network. This is not an incident that we see frequently,” Energy Minister Taner Yildiz told Turkish media.
Turkey suffers from sporadic power outages but locals say they cannot remember such a nationwide cut for a generation.
One of the few cities unaffected by the power cut was Van in eastern Turkey, where electricity is supplied from Iran.
A female suicide bomber has attacked a police station in the tourist hub of Sultanahmet in Istanbul, Turkey, injuring two officers, the city governor says.
Reports say one of the officers has died of his injuries.
Governor Vasip Sahin told Turkish TV that the woman spoke English with “a thick accent”, but her nationality and identity remained unknown.
No group has yet said it was behind the attack, the second on police in a week.
Police arrested a man who threw grenades and fired a weapon at officers near the prime minister’s office on January 1, but no-one was injured in the attack.
The bomber in the latest incident was reported to have died in the attack.
Police have sealed off an area in the historic district, where the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia museum are located.
Vasip Sahin said the woman entered the station and told police she had lost her wallet before detonating the bomb.
“Right now one police officer is in hospital in a critical condition and another is lightly injured… The female bomber lost her life.”
The banned Marxist DHKP-C group said it was behind the earlier attack in the city on January 1, which took place outside Dolmabahce Palace.
Pope Francis is due to arrive in Istanbul meet Muslim and Christian leaders of the city on the second day of his three-day visit to Turkey.
Istanbul, previously known Constantinople, was Byzantine’s capital until the Ottoman conquest in 1453.
Pope Francis will also visit a mosque and hold mass at a Catholic cathedral.
Yesterday the pontiff called for an interfaith dialogue to counter fanaticism and fundamentalism during a visit to the Turkish capital Ankara.
He also called for a renewed Middle East peace push, saying the region had “for too long been a theatre of fratricidal wars”.
Pope Francis’ trip is only the fourth visit by a pontiff to Turkey. Most of the country’s 80 million citizens are Muslims, and there are about 120,000 Christians.
The Pope will begin his visit to Istanbul with a visit to Hagia Sofia – for almost 1,000 years the most important Orthodox cathedral, then for nearly five centuries a mosque under the Ottomans, currently a museum.
He will then hold meetings with Muslim leaders at the Blue Mosque, one of the greatest masterpieces of Ottoman architecture.
Later in the day, Pope Francis will celebrate mass at the Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Spirit and then will meet Bartholomew I – the “first among equals” of the Orthodox Church.
Correspondents say Pope Francis and Bartholomew I have a strong personal relationship, and discussions are expected to focus on healing the schism in the Christian Church that divided it between Rome and Constantinople.
In Ankara, Pope Francis stressed the need for reconciliation and dialogue between the religions.
Three American sailors have been attacked by Turkish nationalist protesters in Istanbul.
The protesters, who posted a video of the attack on an ultra-nationalist website, tried to put hoods on them and chanting “Yankees go home”.
They also threw red paint and chased the sailors down a street.
The sailors returned unharmed to their ship, the USS Ross, which was docked nearby, a US military spokesman said.
US officials condemned the attack, but said it appeared to be a one-off event.
Turkish police arrested 12 people in connection with Wednesday’s incident, but later released them, local media reported.
Three American sailors have been attacked by Turkish nationalist protesters in Istanbul
The protesters, members of the nationalist Turkish Youth Union, were told they could still face charges of insult, injury and breaching laws on public protests, the Dogan news agency said.
Just before the assault, one of the protesters shouted in English at the sailors: “Because we define you as murderers, as killers, we want you to get out of our land.”
The protesters then started throwing objects at the sailors and grabbed hold of at least one of them, briefly pulling a white sack over his head.
Colonel Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, called the attack “ugly and disturbing”.
He described the assailants as “local thugs”, saying they brought “great discredit upon the Turks and the Turkish reputation for hospitality”.
“We’re working closely with Turkish authorities to have this investigated and to get to the bottom of exactly what happened,” he said.
The Turkish foreign ministry also condemned the attack, calling it “in no way tolerable”.
Turkish rescuers have pulled 24 bodies from the Black Sea at the mouth of Istanbul’s Bosphorus strait and rescued seven people after a boat carrying migrants capsized, officials said.
The boat was carrying 42 Afghan migrants – including 12 children and seven women – and a Turkish captain, the Hurriyet news website reported. It was believed to have been heading for Bulgaria or Romania, but it was unclear where it set to sea.
Turkey is one of the main departure points for migrants aiming for the EU, but most travel across the Aegean to Greece.
The boats are often makeshift dinghies, usually overcrowded, with the migrants paying thousands of dollars to smugglers in Turkey.
Two months ago another group of migrants – mostly Syrians and Afghans – was rescued by the Turkish coastguard off the northern coast reportedly heading for the EU.
“The wind is making our task very difficult. The boat is a very small one. But they were carrying 40 people in it. We are seeing bodies of children floating in the sea,” rescuer Ali Saruhan told Hurriyet Daily News.
Turkish rescuers have pulled 24 bodies from the Black Sea at the mouth of Istanbul’s Bosphorus strait (photo Hurriyet Daily News)
Seven coastguard vessels and a helicopter were conducting the search in the Black Sea, some 3 miles north of the Bosphorus, the coastguard said in a statement.
A fisherman who helped retrieve the bodies told Hurriyet that all were without life jackets. He said that babies were among the dead.
The official Anatolia news agency said that rescuers were alerted to the sinking by fishermen and arrived at the scene of the accident to find the vessel semi-submerged.
Correspondents say that it is not clear what caused the boat to sink, although overcrowding, bad weather conditions, the poor condition of the vessel or even a collision with another boat were all possibilities.
Since the start of the civil war in Syria, thousands of migrants have been trying to reach the EU by making the treacherous sea journey from the western and southern Turkish coast.
Tens of thousands of migrants have also attempted to cross the Greek and Bulgarian borders by land, Hurriyet says.
Eight people have been injured in Istanbul on Saturday after a gas explosion in a five-story building, officials said.
Istanbul’s Governor Huseyin Avni Mutlu ruled out any terrorist attack and said the blast was caused by a gas leak or a gas canister.
The explosion in a packaging workshop on the ground floor of the building caused a fire which was quickly extinguished, the private Dogan news agency reported.
Eight people have been injured in Istanbul after a gas explosion in a five-story building (photo Hurriyet)
Huseyin Avni Mutlu’s office said eight people were injured in the blast; one person was in serious condition. A fire-fighter was treated for smoke inhalation, it said.
Hurriyet newspaper and other reports said the injured included a pregnant woman who jumped from a balcony on the second floor of the building. The Turkish publication said some cars were overturned by the force of the blast.
It is the second explosion caused by gas in as many days in Turkey. On Friday, a blast in a bakery in the southwestern city of Denizli killed one person and injured 36 others.
Riot police in Turkey have used tear gas to disperse demonstrators in Istanbul and Ankara on the first anniversary of Gezi Park protests.
According to local reports, 25,000 police have been deployed at Istanbul’s Taksim Square, the epicenter of the 2013 rallies.
PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier urged youths to not join Saturday’s protests.
Protests against plans to redevelop Gezi Park in Istanbul turned into mass rallies against PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan last year after a heavy-handed police response.
Riot police in Turkey have used tear gas to disperse demonstrators in Istanbul and Ankara on the first anniversary of Gezi Park protests (photo AP)
A number of people were killed in the unrest, with thousands more injured.
Clashes broke out in Istanbul on Saturday after protesters marched on Taksim Square despite a government ban on gatherings in force there.
Riot police, water cannon and armored vehicles were deployed to block access to the square and nearby Gezi Park. A number of demonstrators have also reportedly been arrested.
Security forces also fired tear gas at demonstrators in central Ankara.
Earlier on Saturday, Istanbul officers kicked and detained a CNN reporter during a live broadcast from Taksim Square.
Ivan Watson said in a Twitter post that he and his film crew were “released after half an hour”.
The main organizers behind last year’s Gezi Park protests – Taksim Solidarity – had called for a demonstration to mark the one-year anniversary.
Rallies were also expected to take place in several other Turkish cities, including Izmir and Antakya.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has urged young Turks to ignore calls to mark the first anniversary of Istanbul’s Taksim Square protests.
He was speaking ahead of nationwide demonstrations planned for Saturday.
Thousands of police officers and dozens of water cannon trucks are to be deployed to the square, reports say.
Protests against plans to redevelop Istanbul’s Gezi Park last year turned into mass anti-government rallies after a heavy-handed police crackdown.
A number of people were killed in the unrest, with thousands more injured.
Protests against plans to redevelop Istanbul’s Gezi Park last year turned into mass anti-government rallies after a heavy-handed police crackdown (photo Hurriyet)
A 64-year-old woman, who fell into a coma after inhaling tear gas during another crackdown on protesters in the capital in December, died on Friday.
The main organizers behind the Gezi Park protests – Taksim Solidarity – have called for a demonstration on Saturday to mark the one-year anniversary, Hurriyet reports.
Demonstrations are also expected to take place in several other Turkish cities, including Ankara, Izmir and Antakya.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned young people not to take part, saying: “One year later, people, including so-called artists, are calling for demonstrations, but you, Turkey’s youth, you will not respond to the call.”
Addressing a crowd of young people in the capital on Friday, the prime minister described the movement as “terrorist organizations” that “manipulated our morally and financially weak youth to attack our unity and put our economy under threat”.
Intensive security measures are expected to be in place around Ankara, with a government ban on gatherings in force in Taksim Square.
However, Taksim Square will not be surrounded and isolated by police as it was during May Day protests, Zaman reports.
Protesters have clashed with police in recent months, with two men killed during angry demonstrations over a mining disaster that killed 301 people last week.
Anger also flared in March with the news of the death of a 15-year-old boy who had been in a coma since last June after being hit by a tear-gas canister during a protest.
In May 2013, protesters took the government by surprise by occupying Taksim Square and nearby Gezi Park.
Riot police evicted them two weeks later using heavy-handed tactics and galvanizing anti-government demonstrators in several other cities.
Since then, Recep Tayyip Erdogan has faced accusations of authoritarianism and corruption after a string of scandals.
He has also moved to block social media sites YouTube and Twitter, after accusing his opponents of using them to deliberately undermine him.
In the first vote since last year’s mass protests, Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s party won local elections in March, which was widely seen as a barometer of his popularity.
Turkey’s PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said 15-year-old Berkin Elvan who died on Tuesday from injuries sustained in last year’s anti-government protests had links to terrorism.
Berkin Elvan spent nine months in a coma after being hit by a tear gas canister as he went to buy bread.
His death triggered more clashes with the police in over 30 towns and cities.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s comments could further inflame political tensions, correspondents say.
In a campaign speech ahead of local elections on March 30, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the teenager was connected to “terrorist organizations”.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said 15-year-old Berkin Elvan had links to terrorism
“This kid with steel marbles in his pockets, with a slingshot in his hand, his face covered with a scarf, who had been taken up into terror organizations, was unfortunately subjected to pepper gas,” he said in the speech broadcast on state TV.
Berkin Elvan’s funeral took place in Istanbul on Wednesday, providing a focus for further expressions of discontent with Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Police fired water cannon and tear gas at protesters near Taksim Square, while his coffin was carried through the city’s streets.
Tens of thousands of mourners chanted anti-government slogans and Berkin Elvan’s mother accused Recep Tayyip Erdogan of killing her son.
Berkin Elvan’s death brought to at least eight the toll from last year’s unrest, including one policeman.
The protests began over plans to develop Istanbul’s Gezi Park into a new mosque and shopping centre, but escalated into national demonstrations against what opponents see as Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s growing authoritarianism.
The funeral of Berkin Elvan – a teenage boy injured during Istanbul anti-government protests last year – has gathered tens of thousands of people on the streets of Turkey’s biggest city.
Berkin Elvan, 15, spent 269 days in a coma before his death on Tuesday.
Many of the protesters echoed his mother’s claim that Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan was Berkin’s “killer”.
Police in the capital Ankara fired tear gas to disperse several thousand protesters who had gathered in the central Kizilay square.
Berkin Elvan was 14 when he was struck on the head by a tear gas canister while going to buy bread during last year’s unrest.
“Berkin’s murderers are the AKP police,” protesters shouted in Istanbul, referring to PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
The crowds, shouting anti-government slogans, lit a huge fire as they made their way to a cemetery for the burial of the teenager.
“The rage of mothers will suffocate the killers,” screamed others.
Tens of thousands of people have marched through Istanbul for Berkin Elvan’s funeral (photo Reuters)
Berkin Elvan’s death triggered violent protests in at least 32 towns and cities across the country on Tuesday – reminiscent of last year’s unrest.
President Abdullah Gul expressed his sadness and appealed for calm, urging everyone “to do everything to prevent this from happening again”.
He said Turkey was going through difficult days and that the “mind of the state has become overwhelmed by anger and hatred.”
The president added: “Little 15-year-old Berkin Elvan is the latest victim of this atmosphere.”
Correspondents say Berkin Elvan became a symbol of the heavy-handed tactics used by police to rein in the biggest demonstrations against the prime minister.
His death brought the toll from last year’s unrest to at least eight, including one policeman.
Berkin’s mother, Gulsum Elvan, had challenged Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who praised police “heroism” during the protests.
“It’s not God who took my son away but prime minister Erdogan,” the tearful mother told reporters on Tuesday.
The renewed unrest is likely to add to pressure on Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose government has been rocked by an escalating corruption scandal ahead of elections that could decide his fate.
Marmaray tunnel underneath the Bosphorus Strait has been opened in Turkey, creating a new link between the Asian and European shores of Istanbul.
The Marmaray tunnel is the world’s first connecting two continents, and is designed to withstand earthquakes.
The railway tunnel was inaugurated on the 90th anniversary of the Republic of Turkey.
Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan has for years championed the undersea engineering project, first conceived by an Ottoman sultan in 1860.
Work began in 2004, but archaeological excavations delayed construction.
The underwater section runs for 0.8 miles (1.4 km), but in total the tunnel is 8.5 miles (13.6 km) long.
Japan invested $1 billion of the $4 billion total cost of the project, named Marmaray, which is a conflation of the nearby Sea of Marmara with “ray”, the Turkish word for rail.
The Turkish government hopes the new route under the Bosphorus will eventually develop into an important trading route.
Marmaray tunnel underneath the Bosphorus Strait has been opened in Turkey, creating a new link between the Asian and European shores of Istanbul
In theory it brings closer the day when it will be possible to travel from London to Beijing via Istanbul by train.
The Marmaray project will upgrade existing suburban train lines to create a direct link joining the southern part of the city across the Bosphorus Strait.
Istanbul is one of the world’s biggest cities, with about 16 million people. Some 2 million people cross the Bosphorus every day via just two bridges, causing severe traffic congestion, the AFP news agency reported.
The rail service will be capable of carrying 75,000 people per hour in either direction.
“While creating a transport axis between the east and west points of the city, I believe it will soothe the problem” of congestion, said Istanbul’s Mayor Kadir Topbas.
Critics of PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan have seen the tunnel as one of his grandiose construction projects for the city where he used to be mayor.
Detractors of his proposals, including a third airport, a parallel canal, a third bridge over the Bosphorus and a second tunnel – for cars, south of Marmaray – say they illustrate Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s “pharaonic” ambitions.
Authorities came under fire earlier this year when protesters opposed plans to redevelop Istanbul’s Gezi Park. Widespread violence between anti-government demonstrators and security forces ensued.
Marmaray tunnel is still not fully operational after Tuesday’s opening, AFP reports.
“The part that is in service is very limited. All that has been delayed until much later,” said Tayfun Kahraman, president of the Istanbul Chamber of Urban Planners.
“We are wondering why this inauguration is happening so soon.”
Turkey is to open a railway tunnel underneath the Bosphorus Strait, creating a new link between the Asian and European shores of Istanbul.
Turkey’s PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan has for years championed the undersea engineering project, conceived by an Ottoman sultan in 1860.
Work began in 2004 but archaeological excavations delayed the construction.
Japan invested $1 billion of the $4 billion total cost of the 0.8 mile tunnel, designed to withstand earthquakes.
The Bosphorus tunnel is scheduled to be inaugurated at 11:00 a.m., local time.
The railway tunnel underneath the Bosphorus Strait creates a new link between the Asian and European shores of Istanbul
The Turkish government hopes the new route under the Bosphorus will eventually develop into an important trading route, extending from China all the way to Western Europe.
Critics of Recep Tayyip Erdogan have seen the tunnel as one of his grandiose construction projects for the city where he used to be mayor.
Detractors of his proposals, including a third airport, a parallel canal and a third bridge over the Bosphorus, say they illustrate Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s “pharaonic” ambitions.
Authorities came under fire earlier this year when protesters opposed plans to redevelop a park in Istanbul. Widespread violence between anti-government demonstrators and security forces ensued.
The rail tunnel will not be fully operational after its official opening on Tuesday, the news agency AFP reports.
“The part that is in service is very limited. All that has been delayed until much later,” said Tayfun Kahraman, president of the Istanbul Chamber of Urban Planners.
“We are wondering why this inauguration is happening so soon.”
Japan’s PM Shinzo Abe will be present at the official opening in recognition of the Bank of Japan’s status as the project’s principal financial backer.
City officials say the tunnel will relieve pressure on the two existing bridges, as well as ease traffic congestion and pollution.
Turkey’s PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for protests across the country to end immediately.
At Istanbul airport Recep Tayyip Erdogan told crowds of supporters who were welcoming him home from a four-day North Africa tour that the protests bordered on illegality.
As he spoke, thousands of anti-government protesters were also rallying in Istanbul’s Taksim Square.
The unrest began as a local protest over a park in Istanbul but spiraled into nationwide demonstrations.
An estimated 10,000 supporters of Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AKP party descended on the airport to welcome him home in the early hours of Friday.
Standing alongside his wife and government ministers on an open-top bus, Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the crowd: “These protests that are bordering on illegality must come to an end as of now.”
At times Recep Tayyip Erdogan was almost drowned out by the cheering and chanting of his supporters.
“We have never been for building tension and polarization, but we cannot applaud brutality,” he said.
Some of his supporters chanted: “Let us go, let’s crush Taksim.”
However, Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged them to “go home” peacefully.
“You have remained calm, mature and showed common sense,” he said.
“We’re all going to go home from here.”
Turkey’s PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for protests across the country to end immediately
Recep Tayyip Erdogan responded to calls for his resignation by referring to his election victory in 2011 when he took 50% of the vote.
“They say I am the prime minister of only 50%. It’s not true. We have served the whole of the 76 million from the east to the west,” he told the crowd.
It was the first major show of support for Recep Tayyip Erdogan following a week of protests in which his opponents have called for him to resign.
The divisions in Turkey look set to deepen in the days ahead and could be very dangerous indeed.
The original sit-in at Gezi Park last Friday spiraled into mass protests after police cracked down on activists defending the green space near Taksim Square from developers.
Correspondents in Taksim Square say the atmosphere is good-natured, with protesters dancing and chanting political slogans.
Many are part of a secular, well-educated middle class which feels that Turkey lacks a proper, free political culture.
One protester in the square, named as Deniz, told reporters: “He [Recep Tayyip Erdogan] cannot take the park, there is no way. You know what? He will cause a war inside the country. We will keep resisting.”
Protesters accuse Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government of becoming increasingly authoritarian and trying to impose conservative Islamic values on a secular state.
His Justice and Development Party (AKP) has governed Turkey since 2002.
Speaking in Tunis earlier, Recep Tayyip Erdogan acknowledged that police had used “excessive force” against activists at the original sit-in. But he said that a small group was now manipulating what had started as an environmental protest.
“Among the protesters there are extremists, some of them implicated in terrorism,” he told reporters.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan also defended the urban development plan for Gezi Park.
Turkey’s stock market dropped nearly 5% after his remarks.
Amid growing international concern at the unrest, the US has urged Turkish officials to refrain from “unhelpful rhetoric” and France has condemned the heavy-handed police response.
Four people, including a police officer, are reported to have died since the protests began, with thousands more hurt and hundreds arrested.
Interior Minister Muammer Guler has said that more than 500 police officers are among the injured.
The protests come as Turkey prepares to host an international conference focused on its relations with the EU on Friday.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan is to make the opening speech at the event.
Negotiations with the EU have stalled in recent years amid concerns over Turkey’s freedom of speech, treatment of religious minorities, women’s and children’s rights, civilian control of the military and long-running tensions over Cyprus.
Thousands of anti-government protesters are gathering in Istanbul’s Taksim Square, ahead of the return of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan from a North African tour.
Protesters are calling for Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s resignation, correspondents in the square say.
Earlier, Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to press ahead with controversial plans to redevelop a park in Istanbul.
A local environmental protest against the proposal spiraled into nationwide political unrest seven days ago.
The original sit-in at Gezi Park mushroomed after police cracked down on activists defending the green space near Istanbul’s Taksim Square from developers.
For days, demonstrators in Istanbul, Ankara and other cities have been calling for the three-term prime minister to quit.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan is due to return from Tunisia on Thursday evening after a four-day visit to North Africa.
Speaking in Tunis earlier, he acknowledged that police had used “excessive force” against activists at the original sit-in. But he said that a small group was now manipulating what had started as an environmental protest.
“Among the protesters, there are extremists, some of them implicated in terrorism,” he told reporters.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan also defended the urban development plan for Gezi Park.
“The project respects [Turkey’s] history, culture and environment,” he said.
“What we are doing is to protect the rights of the majority and to preserve the beauty of Istanbul.”
Thousands of anti-government protesters are gathering in Istanbul’s Taksim Square, ahead of the return of PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan from a North African tour
The economic response to the remarks was swift, with the stock market dropping nearly 5% after the prime minister’s announcement.
Since the protests erupted, four people including a police officer are reported to have died, thousands have been injured and hundreds arrested in the unrest.
Among those detained were seven foreigners from France, Germany, Greece, Iran and the US, Turkey confirmed on Thursday.
Protesters accuse Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government of becoming increasingly authoritarian and trying to impose conservative Islamic values on a secular state.
His ruling Justice and Development Party has governed Turkey since 2002, winning a series of election victories.
Earlier this week, Deputy PM Bulent Arinc apologized for police violence in the original protest at Gezi Park.
He also met representatives from a protest group calling itself the Taksim Solidarity Platform (TSP).
The collective presented a list of demands, which included the dismissal of police chiefs, a ban on the use of tear gas, the release of detained protesters, the sacking of Istanbul’s governor, and the scrapping of the plans for the redevelopment of Gezi Park.
Opponents of the plan say the park is one of the few green areas left in central Istanbul.
But Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly said the project would go ahead, and that the historic Ottoman-era military barracks would be rebuilt on the site as planned.
The protests come as Turkey prepares to host an international conference focused on its relations with the EU on Friday.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan is to make the opening speech at the event, which will be attended by the EU’s Commissioner for enlargement, Stefan Rule, British ex-foreign minister Jack Straw and representatives from other member states.
France earlier condemned Turkey’s heavy-handed police response to the protests.
Negotiations with the EU have stalled in recent years because of concerns over freedom of speech, treatment of religious minorities, women’s and children’s rights, civilian control of the military and long-running tensions with Cyprus.
Sarai Sierra, the married New York mother who was murdered while on a solo trip to Turkey, had sex the day before she vanished with a man she met on the internet, he has claimed.
“Taylan K” has been interviewed at length by Istanbul police after they discovered his online communication with 33-year-old Sarai Sierra, but he had initially insisted they were just friends.
Now Turkey’s Vatan newspaper has claimed Taylan K told police they had consensual sex a day before Sarai Sierra went missing. The duo had met online months before she left for Turkey on January 7.
It adds yet more intrigue to the circumstances surrounding Sarai Sierra’s death after earlier reports she was hanging out with “a criminal element” before she was killed. The FBI is also reportedly investigating whether she was involved in drug trafficking during her visit to the country.
Taylan K, who first met Sarai Sierra online several months ago when he commented on one of her photographs on Instagram, denied having any part in her disappearance or murder.
He added that he sent her a message on the day she vanished and asked her to meet, but she never responded. Police have taken a blood and sperm sample from Taylan K and 21 others.
Sarai Sierra’s body was found stashed by Istanbul’s ancient city walls on Saturday, more than a week after she failed to catch her flight home. Police said she died from a blunt force trauma.
She was found with a head wound and a blanket near her body. She was wearing jeans, a jumper and a jacket, and still had her earrings and a bracelet on, but her iPhone and iPad were missing.
The claims come on the same day as a source familiar with her murder investigation has suggested she had been hanging out with “a criminal element” while on the trip.
FBI agents investigating the killing do not believe she had only travelled to the country to take pictures, as her family has claimed.
“The first people she met up with were a criminal element,” the source told the New York Post.
“There are some witness reports that she was seen with sketchy characters.”
Authorities are now trying to verify these claims amid reports that her casket will be sent back to the US on Thursday, the Post reported.
Among various lines of inquiry investigators are looking into a possible connection to drug trafficking.
Sarai Sierra, who had been unemployed and had declared bankruptcy in 2005, had also travelled to Amsterdam and Munich while on the trip, which was her first time leaving the United States.
She had initially planned to visit the country for three weeks, but after 12 days she posted online that she had to cut the trip short.
Her family, including her devastated husband Steven Sierra, have said Sarai went to the country because of the photo opportunities. They say she used her iPad and iPhone to shoot the images.
To pay for her funeral, her family began selling some of her images online on Tuesday and soon had enough to cover her expenses.
The photos remain on sale online and any other profits will go to her two young sons, who are nine and 11, her family wrote on the website.
Photographs on sale include images taken during her time in Istanbul and pictures of New York City. They are being sold as canvases, framed prints, greeting cards and iPhone cases for $39.95 each.
“Sarai’s passion for photography and love for capturing the beauty we see in culture, architecture and scenery was her reason for traveling to Istanbul,” her brother, David Jimenez, wrote on the site.
David Jimenez added this afternoon: “Thank you for all the support in purchasing Sarai’s pictures. Quick update, all expenses for Sarai’s funeral have been paid for!
“From here on out any picture of hers that you purchase will NOT be going towards her funeral. All funds will be going to her children. Thank you for your support. David.”
Sarai Sierra, the married New York mother who was murdered while on a solo trip to Turkey, had sex the day before she vanished with a man she met on the internet
The outpouring of support comes hours after Sarai Sierra’s devastated husband, Steven, revealed how he is consumed with sadness at his wife’s death.
Steven Sierra, 40, left their home in Staten Island for Istanbul last week to help search for his wife, after she failed to get on a flight back to the U.S. on January 21 – but the trip ended in heartbreak.
“I’m heartbroken,” Steven Sierra said. He was married to Sarai for 14 years. “This is something you never want to imagine, and it’s something I’d never want anyone to experience.
“You have so many plans, so many dreams with the person you deeply love. You look forward to many years together and there are so many things you haven’t fulfilled with that person, and now those won’t be fulfilled,” he told the New York Daily News.
His two sons, who are aged 9 and 11, still do not know their mother is dead. Steven Sierra told the Daily News he is waiting until he returns home to tell the boys face-to-face.
Turkish police hope DNA samples from 21 people being questioned in the case will be key to finding the perpetrators, according to state run media.
Sarai Sierra’s mother told the Today show: “It was such a shock when we heard. She was supposed to come back and she didn’t.
“Her little boys do not know, their father will talk to them once he gets back. We will all be present for this.
“It was the first time she was going overseas after getting into photography college. She wanted to go there and take pictures of bridges and the history of the city.”
Sarai Sierra had left for Istanbul on January 7 to explore her photography hobby, her family said.
She was in regular contact with friends and relatives, and had told them she would visit Galata Bridge, which spans Istanbul’s Golden Horn waterway, to take photos.
CBS News reported that shortly after Sarai Sierra’s body was discovered, a woman came forward and told police she had seen a white car parked near the city walls as she was driving there the night of January 29, Anadolu reported.
The eyewitness said a man was trying to remove “something” from the car, at which point she caught a glimpse of a woman’s hand.
The news came after police in Istanbul detained and released a man who was one of the last in contact with the missing mother, who vanished the same day she planned to meet up with him.
The man only identified as “Taylan” on social media sites was taken into police custody after questioning on the disappearance of the woman.
Turkish news reports said Sarai Sierra had arranged to meet her contact, “Taylan”, on Galata Bridge she wanted to photograph the day she went missing.
It was about a mile from Sarai Sierra’s hostel, Dogan news agency reported but it’s not known if the meeting had actually taken place.
“We did not meet that day, but we had met before,” Taylan told police while adding that it was four months ago that they met for the first time online, Turkish paper the daily Hürriyet reports.
Authorities scoured security camera images near to the bridge to see if the meeting did in fact take place, the news agency said.
Last week, Turkish police released security camera footage showing missing Sarai Sierra at a mall near her hostel hours before she disappeared.
Sarai Sierra can be seen eating lunch and walking through the mall on January 20 – a day before she was supposed to catch a flight back home.
Her family last heard from Sarai Sierra on January 21, when she was supposed to start her journey home, but she never checked into her flight.
A rescue operation is under way after Volgo Balt 199 cargo ship sank in the Black Sea near the Turkish city of Istanbul.
Twelve crew members were on board the Volgo Balt 199 – reportedly 11 Ukrainian nationals, and one Russian.
Turkish media report that three people have been rescued and one person has died but this has not been confirmed.
The Volgo Balt 199 sank off the town of Sile, in Istanbul province to the east of the city. A second ship is said to be in difficulty amid stormy weather.
Fourteen crew members are said to be on board the second boat, which television footage showed listing heavily in swollen seas.
The Volgo Balt 199, which was sailing under the flag of St Kitts and Nevis, was transporting coal.
A rescue operation is under way after Volgo Balt 199 cargo ship sank in the Black Sea near the Turkish city of Istanbul
“We confirmed that the ship sank. Work continues to rescue 12 people on board,” Salih Orakci, head of the Directorate General of Coastal Safety, told Turkish TV, according to the Reuters news agency.
He said rescue boats and helicopters were involved in the search for Volgo Balt 199’s missing crew, and tug boats had been dispatched to try to help the second ship.
“The sea conditions are very rough which is making the rescue operation very difficult,” he said of the second ship.
Istanbul, Madrid and Tokyo will compete to host the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics after Qatar’s Doha and Azerbaijan’s Baku were cut from the list on Wednesday.
The shortlist was announced at the International Olympic Committee’s executive meeting in Quebec City.
Doha and Baku were rejected for a second time in a row after failing to make the final list for the 2016 Games.
The winning host city will be named on 7 September 2013 in Buenos Aires.
The 15-member executive board, headed by IOC president Jacques Rogge, chose the finalists after examining a technical evaluation report compiled by a panel of Olympic experts.
Istanbul, Madrid and Tokyo will compete to host the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics after Qatar's Doha and Azerbaijan's Baku were cut from the list
Japan’s Tokyo hosted the Olympics in 1964, while neither Istanbul in Turkey nor Spain’s Madrid has held the Games. Madrid is bidding for a third consecutive time, Tokyo a second time in a row and Istanbul a fifth time overall.
Doha, which was proposing to hold the 2020 Olympics in October rather than the usual July/August schedule to avoid the Gulf Arab state’s searing summer heat, is already hosting the 2022 World Cup football tournament.
“This is a great disappointment for the Doha team,” said Noora Al Mannai, chief executive of Doha 2020.
“With so many sports venues already in place and budgeted for, we felt that we offered the IOC great certainty and a low cost Games plan as well as an exciting legacy vision, especially around developing women’s sport in the Middle East.
“However for Doha, it will always be a question of when not if.”
Rome pulled out of the running in February because of the country’s efforts to head off a debt crisis.
London will host the 2012 Summer Games from 27 July – 12 August, while the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro will stage the 2016 Olympics.
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