Erdogan: Forget the Mall

Erdogan is clearly backpedaling, trying to defuse the protests while saving face:

Erdoğan repeated willingness to discuss “democratic rights,” saying, “The shopping mall is not possible in the Artillery Barracks anyway, given the measures. We told them that we may build a city museum instead, and a green area that would be far better than the current park. We also wanted to turn the Ataturk Culture Center to an opera building.”

The prime minister, who bids to rebuild the historic barracks there, called for an end to ongoing Gezi Park protests on his return from a four-day trip to North Africa in the early hours of June 7. “These protests must end immediately,” Erdoğan said today in front of thousands of Justice and Development Party (AKP) supporters who greeted him at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport. “No power but Allah can stop Turkey’s rise,” he said.

Despite this, he is still criticizing the protestors, and is proposing a net replacement of Ataturk commemorations with Ottoman ones.