Tagged: Turkey

The ongoing anti-government protests in Turkey are about a lot of things — including a recent law to restrict the advertising and sale of alcohol. The limits aren't any more onerous than those in some other Western countries, but secular Turks see them as another step in a push by the ruling party to impose conservative social values on the population

Thousands of anti-government protesters have assembled in Istanbul's Taksim Square ahead of the return of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan from a four-day trip to Tunisia.

But thousands more Erdogan supporters were gathered at the airport to greet him.

The BBC says Erdogan is expected to give a speech when he arrives in the early morning hours on Friday.

Trying to placate protesters, Turkey's deputy prime minister issued an apology today.

"The use of excessive force shown against the people who initially started this protest with the motive of protecting the environment was wrong," Bulent Arinc said in a press conference. "And it was unfair. So I apologize to those citizens."