Turkey's deputy prime minister said Monday the armed forces could be called up if needed to help quell popular protests that have swept Turkish cities in the last two weeks, the first time the possibility of a military role has been raised. 

Bulent Arinc made the remarks in Ankara, where 1,000 striking trade union workers faced off briefly against police backed by several water cannon, before police retreated and the crowd left. 

In Istanbul, the cradle of protests that have presented Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan with the greatest public challenge to his 10-year leadership, several hundred union members also marched in sympathy with anti-government demonstrations. 

They were prevented from entering Taksim Square, the focal point of the unrest, but after workers had moved off, between 200 and 300 mainly young protesters, some of them throwing stones from slingshots, fought with police. 

The violence was minor compared with the weekend, which saw some of the fiercest clashes so far when police fired teargas and water cannon to clear thousands of people from the square. 

"Our police, our security forces are doing their jobs. If it's not enough, then the gendarmes will do their jobs. If that's not enough ... we could even use elements of the Turkish Armed Forces," Arinc told Turkey's state-run TRT television. 

Any use of the army would be a dramatic step in Turkey, where Erdogan has pushed through democratic reforms including taming a military that toppled four governments in four decades. 

There were also clashes on Monday in the city of Eskisehir, around 200 km (120 miles) southeast of Istanbul, where police used teargas and water cannon to disperse crowds and cleared away hundreds of tents, the Dogan news agency reported. 

Monday's union marches were peaceful and small, and, while it was unclear how many of the 850,000 public workers answered union calls to strike, there were no signs of major disruption. 

What began late in May as a protest by environmentalists upset at government plans to build on a public park adjoining Taksim has grown into a movement against Erdogan, who opponents say is overbearing and meddles in their personal lives. 

The unrest has yet to seriously threaten Erdogan's position. 

A new poll showed that 35.3 percent of people would vote for his AK Party were an election to be held straight away, compared with 36.3 percent in April. 

In the first survey published since protests started, opposition groups also gained in popularity, most notably the CHP whose support jumped to 22.7 percent in June from 15.3 percent two months ago. 

European Union enlargement commissioner Stefan Fuele expressed concern about developments in Turkey, whose negotiations to join the bloc have stalled, partly over worries about its record on human rights and freedom of speech. 

Germany has long harbored doubts about admitting Turkey to the EU. Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was "appalled, like many others" at Turkey's tough response to the protests. 

"I would like to see those who ... have a different opinion and a different idea of society having some space in a Turkey that moves into the 21st century," she told the German broadcaster RTL. 

"What's happening in Turkey at the moment is not in line with our idea of the freedom to demonstrate or freedom of speech." 

Erdogan sought to seize back the initiative over the weekend by holding huge rallies in Istanbul and Ankara. Hundreds of thousands turned up to see a leader who has won three successive elections, and whom they considered unfairly under siege. 

The blunt-talking 59-year-old said the rallies were to kick off campaigning for local elections next year and not related to the unrest, but they were widely seen as a show of strength. 

A defiant Erdogan told a sea of flag-waving supporters in Istanbul on Sunday that the disturbances had been manipulated by "terrorists" and dismissed suggestions that he was behaving like a dictator, a constant refrain from protesters on the streets. 

Just a few kilometers away, police fought running battles with protesters in clashes that lasted well into the evening. 

The stark contrast between events in different parts of Istanbul highlighted how the protests have polarized Turkey, its conservative religious heartland largely backing Erdogan while Western-facing liberals swell the ranks of the protesters. 

Dado Ruvic / Reuters

Members of the Confederation of Revolutionary Trade Unions of Turkey (DISK) take part in a protest in central Ankara on Monday.

ANKARA, Turkey - Riot police backed by water cannons warned around 1,000 trade union workers to stop blocking a major avenue in the center of the capital Ankara on Monday or face intervention, a Reuters witness said.

Slideshow: Anger in Turkey

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Protests that started as an outcry against a local development project in Taksim Square have snowballed into widespread anger against what critics say is the government's increasingly conservative and authoritarian agenda.

Launch slideshow

The workers were trying to march towards the central Kizilay district, waving flags and chanting slogans, as part of a national strike called by several labor groups in support of anti-government protests.

"Those of you on the streets must stop blocking the streets. Do not be provoked. The police will use force,'' police officers shouted through megaphones as several water cannon were positioned a few hundred meters away.

Meanwhile in Turkey's largest city Istanbul, police detained 441 people in connection with clashes in the city on Sunday between police and demonstrators protesting against the government, an official at the city's bar association said. 

Throughout Sunday, police in Istanbul fired water cannon and tear gas at thousands of anti-government demonstrators seeking to enter Istanbul's central Taksim Square. An official from the Ankara bar association said 56 people were detained in the capital. 

Related:

• Turkey protesters refuse to leave Istanbul park despite PM pledge

• Turkey protesters say PM Erdogan vows to respect courts on park plans

• Photographer documents Istanbul 'war zone' in his own backyard on Facebook

Slideshow: Anger in Turkey

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Protests that started as an outcry against a local development project in Taksim Square have snowballed into widespread anger against what critics say is the government's increasingly conservative and authoritarian agenda.

Launch slideshow

ISTANBUL -- Turkish protesters said on Saturday they would not leave an Istanbul park despite a call from the president for them to withdraw and a pledge from Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan to hold a vote on plans to redevelop the site.

Hundreds of protesters, camped out for more than two weeks in tents in Gezi Park adjoining Istanbul's central Taksim Square, said they would keep up their campaign after the government failed to meet demands including the release of detained demonstrators.

A police crackdown on peaceful campaigners in the park two weeks ago provoked an unprecedented wave of protest against Erdogan and his AK Party -- an association of centrists and conservative religious elements -- drawing in secularists, nationalists, professionals, trade unionists and students.

The unrest, in which police fired teargas and water cannon at stone-throwing protesters night after night in cities including Istanbul and Ankara, left four people dead and about 5,000 injured, according to the Turkish Medical Association.

"The government has ignored clear and rightful demands since the beginning of the resistance. They tried to divide, provoke and damage our legitimacy," the Taksim Solidarity platform, an umbrella group for the protesters, said in a statement.

The group, whose representatives met Erdogan at his official residence in Ankara on Thursday night, said it had seen no serious signs of progress in holding those responsible for the police crackdown to account, nor in investigating the four deaths, one of them a policeman, during the unrest.

"We continue to guard the park," said Mucella Yapici, a spokeswoman for the group, when asked if the protesters were considering withdrawing.

Erdogan told protesters at Thursday's talks he would put plans to build a replica Ottoman-era barracks in Gezi Park on hold until a court rules on them, a more moderate stance after two weeks of defiance in which he when he called the protesters as "riff-raff" and said the plans would go ahead regardless.

"The fact that negotiation and dialogue channels are open is a sign of democratic maturity," President Abdullah Gul, who has struck a more conciliatory tone than Erdogan throughout the protests, said on his Twitter account on Saturday.

"I believe this process will have good results. From now on everybody should return home," he said.

What began as a campaign by environmentalists to save what they say is one of central Istanbul's few green spaces spiralled into the most serious show of defiance against Erdogan and his AK Party of his decade in power.

The ruling party plans rallies in Ankara later on Saturday and in Istanbul on Sunday. Erdogan said on Friday they mark the start of campaigning for local elections next year and are not to do with the Gezi Park protest, but they are widely seen as a show of strength in the face of the demonstrations.

Erdogan has long been the country's most popular politician, his AK Party winning three successive election victories each time with a larger share of the vote, but his critics complain of increasing authoritarianism.

Related stories:

• Turkey protesters say PM Erdogan vows to respect courts on park plans
• 'Lawbreakers' to be removed from Taksim Square, Turkey PM warns
• Photographer documents Istanbul 'war zone' in his own backyard on Facebook

Thanassis Stavrakis / AP

A worker cleans the steps of Istanbul's Taksim Square on Thursday.

Editor's note: This story includes a correction.

ANKARA, Turkey -- "Lawbreakers" will be removed from Istanbul's Taksim Square, Turkey's prime minister declared Thursday.

Ratcheting up his defiant tone, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan appeared determined to end two weeks of protests that have put an unflattering international spotlight on his Islamic-rooted government and its handling of the biggest street unrest of his 10-year tenure.

Erdogan's comments came a day after his Justice and Development party proposed a referendum over a development plan at Taksim Square that has fanned the protests. Police have repeatedly fired water cannons, tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the protesters; five people have died and over 5,000 have been injured. The government says 600 police were injured as well.

"This square belongs to the people of Istanbul, the people of the whole country, and to all international visitors. So we cannot allow lawbreakers to hang around freely in this square," Erdogan told local party leaders. "We will clean the square."

Erdogan also lashed out at the European Parliament over its non-binding motion for a resolution that expressed its concern over "the disproportionate and excessive use of force" by Turkish police.

The EU assembly said it "deplores the reactions of the Turkish Government and of Prime Minister Erdogan" — and accused him of adding to the polarization of the situation.

Just minutes before the EU legislature approved the motion in a show of hands, Erdogan thundered to raucous applause: "I won't recognize the decision that the European Union Parliament is going to take about us ... Who do you think you are by taking such a decision?"

The protests erupted May 31 after a violent police crackdown on a peaceful sit-in by activists objecting to a development project that would cut down the trees in Gezi Park, adjacent to Taksim Square, with a replica of Ottoman-era barracks.

Slideshow: Anger in Turkey

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Protests that started as an outcry against a local development project in Taksim Square have snowballed into widespread anger against what critics say is the government's increasingly conservative and authoritarian agenda.

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The demonstrations then spread to dozens of cities, rallying tens of thousands of people each night, and broadened to a protest over Erdogan's overall rule.

Protesters have been objecting to what they say is the prime minister's increasingly authoritarian style and his perceived attempts to impose a religious and conservative lifestyle on a country with secular laws — charges he rejects.

Protesters who have camped out in a peaceful sit-in in Gezi Park remained on site Thursday. Their continued presence by the hundreds has served as a base for large numbers of protesters who have congregated by the thousands on Taksim Square — usually in the evening, after work.

Also Thursday, 26-year-old Ethem Sarisuluk — who had been on life support for days — was pronounced dead, according to family lawyer Sema Aksoy. He was believed to have been hit in the head by a tear gas canister June 1 during protests in Ankara, though lawyers were going to sit in on the autopsy to verity the exact circumstances leading to his death.

Related:

• Uneasy calm after protesters flee Taksim Square
• Turkey crackdown is 'last straw' for Erdogan opponents
• Photographer documents Istanbul 'war zone' on Facebook

This story was originally published on Thu Jun 13, 2013 6:46 AM EDT

Calm returned to Istanbul’s Taksim Square early Wednesday, hours after riot police used tear gas and water cannons to clear demonstrators after almost two weeks of clashes.

Only a handful of protesters remained in Gezi Park, the small tree-lined part of the square that has been turned into a makeshift camp for opponents of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.

Tuesday’s violent scenes – mirrored in other Turkish cities - prompted the White House to express concern and call for dialogue between Erdogan’s government and protesters.

Murad Sezer / Reuters

Demonstrators chat next to a damaged car at Gezi Park in central Istanbul on Wednesday.

"We continue to follow events in Turkey with concern, and our interest remains supporting freedom of expression and assembly, including the right to peaceful protest," White House spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said in a statement, according to Reuters.

Erdogan has repeatedly dismissed suggestions of a compromise, referring to them as looters who are “arm in arm with terrorists.” However, he was expected to meet some protest leaders Wednesday.

Turkey's president Abdullah Gul, who has taken a more conciliatory tone than Erdogan during the unrest, conceded that it was the duty of government to engage with its critics but appeared to close ranks with the prime minister, saying violent protests were a different matter. 

"If people have objections ... then to engage in a dialogue with these people, to hear out what they say is no doubt our duty," Gul told reporters, according to Reuters. "Those who employ violence are something different and we have to distinguish them ... We must not give violence a chance ... This would not be allowed in New York, this would not be allowed in Berlin."

At least two sides of Taksim Square were reopened to traffic Wednesday, and there were no signs of the violent clashes that have rocked the area for several days.

Some shops had also reopened, according to Derek Stoffel, a reporter with Canadian broadcaster CBC.

Until late Tuesday, thousands had defiantly occupied the square, using destroyed vehicles as a makeshift barrier.

But as dusk fell, police made a quick and decisive push to clear most of them out of the area, taking advantage of rain and strong winds.

Clouds of choking tear gas sent protesters scattering into side streets, according to Reuters, which also reported that staff in surrounding hotels raised shutters just enough to allow people to crawl inside for shelter.

Clashes between police and demonstrators went back and forth as winds blew tear gas away, but the onslaught scattered protesters enough to allow municipal workers to move in and remove debris and obstacles from much of the square.

Government officials acknowledged that protesters had been injured, with Istanbul Gov. Hüseyin Avni Mutlu describing the injuries as minor. Turkey’s Hurriyet Daily News, however, quoted the president of the Turkish Medical Association as saying hundreds of protesters had been injured and five of the cases were critical.

Human Rights Watch said one nearby medical facility had treated more than 100 patients, mostly for injuries related to the effects of tear gas.

Slideshow: Anger in Turkey

Angelos Tzortzinis / AFP - Getty Images

Protests that started as an outcry against a local development project in Taksim Square have snowballed into widespread anger against what critics say is the government's increasingly conservative and authoritarian agenda.

Launch slideshow

Police also fired water cannon to disperse protesters in the center of the capital, Ankara, Reuters reported.

The protests began May 31 after police cracked down on what had been a peaceful demonstration against plans to modernize Taksim Square.

The plans include an Ottoman-style military barracks, and a cultural center, including an opera house. If the plans are implemented, the park’s modest forest of trees would be reduced to garden-size.

The crackdown led to days of rioting and turned a local issue into a nation-wide protest, killing three and injuring at least 4,000 in some 78 cities. 

NBC's Richard Engel and Jim Maceda and Reuters contributed to this report.

Related:

• Riot police in Taksim Square as protests intensify
• Turkey's leader remains defiant after 10 days of protest 
• Taksim Square and the battle for Turkey – What's next?
• 'Woman in red' sprayed with teargas becomes symbol of Turkey protests

This story was originally published on Wed Jun 12, 2013 12:25 PM EDT

Thanassis Stavrakis / AP

A pedestrian walks past a barricade, with the Bosphorus Bridge in the background, near Taksim Square in Istanbul on Monday June 10.

ISTANBUL, Turkey – Fatma, a 24-year-old trained nurse, thought “here we go again” when she learned on Twitter that the Istanbul Municipality had plans to modernize the city’s iconic Taksim Square, which includes one of the few green parks left in the urban sprawl. 

“There was lots of talk about making the square better, but I was very worried,” said Fatma, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. “We’ve seen the government destroy other parks in Ankara and other cities.”

A few weeks ago, local papers published the plans with no public debate or discussion. But what she saw shocked her. “They were going to pull out many trees and build this huge shopping mall around the park, covering most of it with concrete!” Fatma said.

The plans included an Ottoman-style military barracks, and a cultural center, including an opera house. If the plans are implemented, the park’s modest forest of trees would be reduced to garden-size.

Fatma rushed to Taksim to join a few friends already sitting-in to protect the trees. At dawn, without warning, riot police attacked her and other sleeping protesters with tear gas and water cannons. Several protesters were injured.

No one could have imagined then that the raid would incite days of rioting and turn a local “green” issue into a nation-wide protest, killing three and injuring at least 4,000 in some 78 cities. 

Fatma is still in the park, but now she is treating the sick and injured in a makeshift health clinic. “This is not just any park,” she said. “It’s a historic park, and it doesn’t need a shopping mall at all.’’

Slideshow: Anger in Turkey

Protests that started as an outcry against a local development project in Taksim Square have snowballed into widespread anger against what critics say is the government's increasingly conservative and authoritarian agenda.

Launch slideshow

But many Turks – indeed about half the population – would disagree.

“The Taksim project is good for Turkey and for the people,” said middle-aged Zulfu Aycil, outside a mosque in Kasimpasa, the neighborhood where Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan grew up.

Aycil, who voted for Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the last election two years ago, likes the Taksim redevelopment plan a lot, because it moves all throughways beneath the square, freeing it from Istanbul’s endemic traffic jams.

“Pedestrians will be able to shop more easily and spend more money, and that will help tourism and the economy,” said Aycil, who works in a store near Taksim. 

But the square’s battle lines now go far beyond the initial standoff between local environmentalists and city planners. The riot police’s wanton aggression struck a nerve, and Erdogan is facing his biggest political crisis since coming to power 10 years ago, when he promised to bring Turkey into the 21^st century with trappings of its Ottoman glory days. 

Under Erdogan’s leadership, most here agree, Turkey has become an economic success and a force to be reckoned with in the region.  But his construction mania and a series of new laws have angered secular Turks, even as they have pleased his growing power base – the conservative, Islamist middle-class.  

“People are fed up with Erdogan’s approach,” said Ali Orcunos, a 64-year-old pensioner who was protesting in Taksim Square with a group younger than his own children. “Which is 'I decided this, so I will do it this way because the 50 percent who support me want it so; and the other 50 percent don’t count.'’’

In recent months Erdogan has imposed restrictions on the sale of alcohol, a drawing down of social security, the separation of boys and girls in primary and secondary schools, and an emphasis on religious – over national – holidays.

And after the initial clashes, Erdogan, rather than seek a conciliatory tone, skewered the protesters, calling them looters who were “arm in arm with terrorists.”

“I was stunned,” said Begum Uzun, one of the protesters on the square. “I expected Erdogan to say something that would slow down the protest, to be more rational.”

Jim Maceda / NBC News

Zulfu Aycil, a supporter of Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, likes the plans for the redevelopment of Taksim Square.

Instead the rioting went viral. “This went from something small to something huge not just because of the police actions,” explained Fatma, the medic. “It was more a last-straw reaction by people across Turkey to Erdogan’s arrogance and policies.”

Fatma said the protest is still growing, and that protesters – who’ve built a tent city in the leafy park inside Taksim Square – won’t leave until Erdogan and his government resign.  But fellow volunteer medic, Gokhan Safak, 40, disagreed with his colleague.

“I don’t think this protest is going to go anywhere. It will die out,” he said. “But we’ve already scared Erdogan – it’s been a wake-up call. And that’s already a victory.”

Perhaps. But Erdogan shows no signs of changing course – much less resigning. He’s said that the plans for Taksim Square will push through, and he’s now added a mosque as well.   

During a fiery speech from the top of a bus on Sunday, he condemned the protesters.

Turkish political analyst, Cengiz Aktar, who’s known Erdogan for years, says the AKP leader isn’t capable of backing down.

“Turkey can still turn things around, despite this setback,” he said. “But unfortunately Erdogan isn’t flexible enough to do that. It’s not his style. He’s acting increasingly like a lonely autocrat, surrounded by yes-men, and no women.”

Jim Maceda / NBC News

A banner saying "You Gassed Us," hangs over a halted construction site in Istanbul's Taksim Square.

Meanwhile, the tunneling under the square – which began in November – stopped after protesters barricaded all access roads to Taksim and covered the stalled construction sites with graffiti.

One banner reads, “You Gassed Us.” And a court injunction filed by protesters has temporarily halted the pulling out of trees at the park. 

Feeling more confident, people are digging in at Taksim. Burnt-out vehicles from the first violent days have been painted over in bright colors.

But analysts like Aktar are more pessimistic. “This national crisis could turn into a real conflict. A kind of civil war.”

Triggered by a grove of sycamores.

NBC News' Jim Maceda is based in London. He’s on assignment in Turkey.

Related:

• Riot police in Taksim Square as protests intensify
• Turkey's leader remains defiant after 10 days of protest 
• Taksim Square and the battle for Turkey – What's next?
• 'Woman in red' sprayed with teargas becomes symbol of Turkey protests

Vadim Ghirda / AP

A man makes a heart shaped sign to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his wife Emine to show support after his arrival in Ankara, Turkey, Sunday, June 9, 2013.

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey's prime minister remained defiant on Sunday after 10 days of anti-government protests, traveling to two cities where unrest has occurred and condemning the demonstrators as "a handful of looters."

In the southern city of Adana, where pro- and anti-government protesters had clashed Saturday night, Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a fiery speech from the top of a bus.

"We won't do what a handful of looters have done. They burn and destroy. ... They destroy the shops of civilians. They destroy the cars of civilians," Erdogan told supporters who had greeted him at Adana airport. "They are low enough to insult the prime minister of this country."

He urged his supporters to avoid violence themselves and predicted that his Islamic-rooted party would defeat his opponents during local elections in March.

"As long as you walk with us, the Justice and Development Party administration will stand strong," Erdogan said, referring to his party. "As long as there is life in my body, your prime minister and your party chairman, God willing, will not be deterred by anything."

He then traveled to the city of Mersin, where anti-protests have been held, to make a similar speech and to open new sports facilities.

Later Sunday, Erdogan was scheduled to travel to Ankara, the capital, where supporters are again expected to greet him in a show of force.

In Adana late Saturday, a pro-government group hurled stones at marching anti-government demonstrators, the state-run Anadolu Agency said. Police evacuated women and children, but the two groups continued to clash with stones and batons.

It was the second time in the last 10 days of protests that pro- and anti- demonstrated had fought with one another. On Thursday, party supporters attacked about 30 protesters in the city of Rize, on Turkey's Black Sea coast.

The nationwide anti-government protests were sparked by outrage over police use of force against an environmental protest in Istanbul on May 31, and have grown into a display of discontent toward Erdogan's government.

Many accuse the prime minister of becoming increasingly authoritarian after 10 years in power and of trying to impose his conservative, religious mores in the country which is governed by secular laws.

Erdogan has rejected the accusations, insisting he respects all lifestyles and is the "servant" of his people.

Tens of thousands of people gathered in Istanbul's Taksim Square on Saturday, joined by thousands of fans from Istanbul's rival football teams, Fenerbahce, Galatasaray and Besiktas, who had set aside their usual enmity to oppose the government.

There also were mass anti-Erdogan protests in Ankara and the in the city of Izmir. Police in Ankara fired tear gas and used water cannons to disperse thousands of people protesting near government buildings.

ISTANBUL/ANKARA - Turkey's deputy prime minister sought to mollify tens of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Tuesday by apologizing for a police crackdown on a peaceful protest that triggered five days of rioting across the country.

The comments by Bulent Arinc, who took charge of the government after Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan left on a visit to North Africa on Monday, contrasted with Erdogan's defiant dismissal of the protesters as "looters." 

"The excessive violence that was used in the first instance against those who were behaving with respect for the environment is wrong and unfair. I apologize to those citizens," Arinc told a news conference in the capital Ankara.

"But I don't think we owe an apology to those who have caused damage in the streets and tried to prevent people's freedom," he said.

Arinc said he would meet some of the organizers of the original Istanbul protest, which has spiraled into an unprecedented show of anger at the ruling party.

It appeared to be too little, too late.

Shops were shuttered on a main avenue leading to Istanbul's Taksim Square, the focus of the protests, as thousands of demonstrators chanting anti-government slogans marched by.

Barricades of rubble blocked other streets leading to the square and the acrid smell of tear gas hung in the air.

Yannis Behrakis / Reuters

An anti-government protester shouts for help with extinguishing a burning container in Istanbul's Taksim Square on Tuesday.

A 22-year-old member of the main opposition youth wing was killed after being hit in the head at a rally in the southern town of Antakya near the Syrian border late on Monday, the second death after a taxi hit a demonstrator in Istanbul on Sunday. Officials initially said the Antakya victim had been shot.

The ferocity of the crackdown on the initial protests on Friday, which began over government plans to build over a Gezi Park in Taksim Square, shocked even Erdogan loyalists and drew international condemnation. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he was concerned by reports of excessive police force.

The main public sector union federation, the leftist KESK which represents 240,000 members, launched a two-day strike, originally called over workers' rights, to protest at the police crackdown on what had begun as peaceful protests.

AFP - Getty Images

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc talks at a press conference on Tuesday in Ankara in which he apologized on behalf of the government to protesters hurt in clashes with police during days of demonstrations and called for an immediate end to the protests.

"These operations have drowned the country in gas bombs. The prime minister has become so thoughtless as to describe the millions who exercise their democratic rights ... as a 'handful of marginal looters,'" KESK said in a statement.

Erdogan has dismissed the protests as the work of secular enemies never reconciled to the election success of his AK Party, which has roots in Islamist parties banned in the past but which also embraces center-right and nationalist elements. The party has won three straight elections and overseen an economic boom, increasing Turkey's influence in the region.

The U.S. Department of State told U.S. citizens traveling to or residing in Turkey to remain alert.

"We strongly urge U.S. citizens to avoid demonstrations and large gatherings," a statement read. "Even demonstrations intended to be peaceful can turn confrontational and escalate into violence."

Related content:

'Woman in red' sprayed with teargas becomes symbol of Turkey protests

ISTANBUL - War-torn Syria has warned its citizens not to travel to neighbor Turkey, Reuters reported Monday as Istanbul prepared for a fourth day of violent public demonstrations in which more than 1,000 have been injured.

Syria's Foreign Ministry said it advised Syrians "against travel to Turkey for the time being for their own safety, because of the deteriorating security situation in several Turkish cities...and the violence of (Prime Minister Tayyip) Erdogan's government against peaceful protesters," according to Reuters.

Reuters

Anti-government protesters behind barricades clash with riot police on Istanbul, early Monday.

In Istanbul, hundreds of young men and women gathered on İstiklal Avenue, one of the city's main streets, early Monday. The crowds, which clapped and whistled as they headed toward the city's main Taksim Square, were smaller than those seen over the weekend.

The private Dogan news agency said police fired tear gas at the group in an area close to Erdogan's Istanbul offices. The protesters responded by hurling stones, it reported.

The government of Syria is fighting a two-year uprising in which an estimated 80,000 people have died. In Turkey, more than 1,000 people have been hurt in its largest city Istanbul, capital Ankara and other cities after protesters clashed with police over the last three days.  

Erdogan, a former close ally of Syria's Bashar Assad, turned against Damascus after the Syrian president cracked down on mainly peaceful protests which broke out in March 2011 and have since descended into a brutal civil war.

Turkey is hosting around 370,000 Syrian refugees. It has also been a base for Assad's military and political foes, as well as a transit point for weapon supplies flowing into northern Syria.

On Saturday Syria called on Erdogan to halt what it called his violent repression of protests or step aside -- an echo of the appeals to Assad in the early days of Syria's uprising.

Thanassis Stavrakis / AP

High school students chant slogans during a protest at Gezi park, Taksim square in Istanbul, Monday.

According to Reuters, Syrian Information Minister Omran Zoabi said:  "The demands of the Turkish people don't deserve all this violence ... If Erdogan is unable to pursue non-violent means, he should resign." 

The recent unrest in Turkey broke out when trees were torn down at a park in Taksim as part of government plans to develop the area.  The demonstrations have broadened into a show of defiance against the Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Erdogan has so far stood firm on plans to remake the square, and maintained that the protests were not actually related to the redevelopment.

"It's entirely ideological," he said in an interview on Turkish television. "The main opposition party which is making resistance calls on every street is provoking these protests ... This is about my ruling party, myself and the looming municipality elections in Istanbul and efforts to make the AK Party lose votes here."

Reuters contributed to this report.

This story was originally published on Mon Jun 3, 2013 6:29 AM EDT

Turkey's prime minister is charging that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons against its people and has called on the U.S. to take stronger action, he told NBC News' Ann Curry in an exclusive interview Thursday.

"It is clear the regime has used chemical weapons and missiles," Turkish premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

Erdogan gave no specifics about when and where the weapons were allegedly used, but he said he believes President Obama's "red line" for the U.S. in deciding whether to take action has been crossed.

"It has been passed long time ago," said Erdogan, who is meeting with Obama on May 16.

"We want the United States to assume more responsibilities and take further steps. And what sort of steps they will take, we are going to talk about this."

Erdogan cited as evidence the "remainders of missiles" — at least 200 by his count — that he believes were used in chemical attacks, along with the injuries of Syrians brought over the Turkish border for medical treatment.

"There are patients who are brought to our hospitals who were wounded by these chemical weapons," he said.

Erdogan rejected any suggestion that the rebels might have used chemical weapons.

"There is no way I can believe in this now. First of all, how are they going to obtain this? And who will give this to them?" he said.

"But if it exists, we are against this...We are against whoever holds the weapons."

A member of the United Nations' commission on Syria claimed this week "strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof" that the rebels has used sarin gas, but the panel quickly backed away from those claims -- adding that it had "not reached conclusive findings as to the use of chemical weapons in Syria by any parties to the conflict."

The White House — which has said it has varying levels of confidence that sarin was used on a small scale in Syria — quickly threw cold water on the suggestion that the rebels were to blame.

Erdogan said he could not confirm that sarin was used in Syria. "We don't have such a finding yet," he said.

Asked whether Turkey would support a U.S.-enforced no-fly zone in Syria, Erdogan said, "Right from the beginning...we would say 'yes.'"

He denied that Turkey has provided military support to the rebels but said his country has spent nearly $1 billion on aid to 300,000 refugees from Syria.

"We keep the open door policy because they are fleeing oppression." Erdogan said.

Erdogan said he has heard reports that Assad's wife and children have already left Syria, their lives "ruined" by him.

"The thing he should do now is to leave Syria," he said. "Sooner or later, the opposition are going to get him."

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story included a response from Erdogan to a two-part question about whether he would support a U.S.-enforced no-fly zone and American troops in Syria. The translator only asked Erdogan about the no-fly zone, however, and the story has been changed to reflect that.