As protests continued in Istanbul’s Taksim Square over the weekend, in another part of the city Turkey’s prime minister spoke at a pro-government rally today and blamed international media outlets for fomenting the violence. The New York Times reports Prıme Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan rallied hundreds of thousands of supporters “many of them traveling on city buses and ferries that the government had mobilized for the event.”
“CNN International, are you ready for this?” shouted the announcer to the sea of people waving flags bearing Mr. Erdogan’s face and the yellow and white logo of his Justice and Development Party, known by its Turkish initials as A.K.P.
Mr. Erdogan then singled out BBC, CNN and Reuters, saying, “for days, you fabricated news.”
Advertisement“You portrayed Turkey differently to the world,” he continued. “You are left alone with your lies. This nation is not the one that you misrepresented to the world.”