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Will Erdogan Choose to Fight?

Signals from Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan raise concerns that he will be hardening his stand.
A Turkish secret service agent walks past an image of Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan before his arrival at Istanbul's Ataturk airport June 6, 2013. Erdogan told thousands of cheering supporters on Friday his authority came from the ballot box and urged them not to be drawn into violence, in a show of ruling party strength after a week of fierce anti-government protests. Addressing crowds at Istanbul airport from an open-top bus after returning from a trip to North Africa, Erdogan called on his ruling
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Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with his remarks and gestures against the Gezi Park resistance that became a major social explosion on May 31, is signaling that instead of easing up and reconciling, he has chosen to fight.

The clearest indicator was the speech he made to thousands of his supporters who had come to the airport to welcome him home in the early hours of June 7 after his tour of the Maghreb countries. Erdogan climbed to the top of a bus and addressed his jubilant but angry supporters:

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