Erdogan urges young to ignore Taksim protest anniversary

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged young Turks on Friday to ignore a call to mark the anniversary of last-year's Taksim Square protests that mushroomed into a revolt against his rule. Turkish police were already mobilising to face down marches announced for Saturday as opposition sympathisers mourned the death of a 64-year-old Turkish woman who had fallen into a coma during a crackdown on protesters in December. "One year later, people, including so-called artists, are calling for demonstrations, but you, Turkey's youth, you will not respond to the call," Erdogan told a crowd of a thousand young people in Istanbul. Despite a government ban on gatherings at Taksim Square, a symbolic rallying point, activists have called for a demonstration there to mark the one-year anniversary of the unrest, which left eight people dead and thousands wounded when police cracked down on peaceful protesters.

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