ISTANBUL, Turkey, June 7 (UPI) -- Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, urging an end to anti-government protests, said Friday he would investigate accusations of excessive police force.
Erdogan, returning to Turkey after a four-day trip to North Africa, said the demonstrations in his country had lost "all democratic characteristics," CNN reported.
"My innocent citizens must extricate themselves from the demonstrations." Erdogan said.
He acknowledged that police may have used excessive force last week and said he ordered an investigation.
"They say I am the prime minister of only 50 percent. It's not true. We have served the whole of the 76 million from the east to the west," said Erdogan, who won his bid in 2011 with 50 percent of the vote.
Erdogan said the protests turned into vandalism and "utter lawlessness," and must end immediately, the Hurriyet Daily News reported.
"May Allah preserve our fraternity and unity. We will have nothing to do with fighting and vandalism," he said. "The secret to our success is not tension and polarization."
On Thursday, analysts blamed Erdogan for a sharp decline in the country's stock markets after he made defiant remarks about the protests during an interview in Tunisia, CNN said.
Protesters have called for Erdogan's resignation, accusing his government of authoritarianism. Three people, including a police officer, have died in the demonstrations and more than 4,300 people have been injured over the past week. The demonstrations began as a sit-in over plans to replace Gezi Park -- the last green space in central Istanbul -- with a shopping mall.
