Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan defended his actions Sunday and said it was his “duty” to send riot police to evict thousands of activists at the Istanbul park that has become center of the recent protests against his administration.
“I did my duty as prime minister,” he said, according to the AP. “Otherwise there would be no point in my being in office.”
As Erdogan delivered his speech to supporters in Western Istanbul, riot police fired tear gas and used water cannons on thousands of defiant protesters who were trying to reorganize in the city’s main Taksim Square.
