Turkey PM urges end to protests, tells supporters to 'go home'

ISTANBUL: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for an immediate end to mass protests against his rule Friday but urged supporters to "go home" after they staged a major show of strength welcoming him home from an overseas trip.

Waving Turkish flags and chanting "We will die for you, Erdogan" and "Let's go crush them all", supporters of the premier's Justice and Development Party (AKP) staged their first rally after keeping largely silent during seven days of violent anti-government demonstrations across the country.

"I call for an immediate end to the demonstrations, which have lost their democratic credentials and turned into vandalism," Erdogan said in a speech at the Istanbul airport where he returned from a North Africa trip, to roaring cheers from the crowd.

Flanked by his wife and prominent government ministers, the premier praised his supporters for their restraint in recent days, but stressed that he was "the servant" of every citizen in the country.

"You have remained calm, mature and showed common sense," he said. "We're all going to go home from here... You're not the type of people to bang pots and pans on the streets."

Earlier, tens of thousands of angry anti-government protesters again packed cities across the country to call for the premier's resignation.

Erdogan's critics accuse him of forcing conservative Islamic values on Turkey, a mainly Muslim but staunchly secular nation.