Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister is apologizing to the protesters who were injured by cops in the initial stages of protests in Istanbul.  But the conciliatory tone does not extend to those who joined the later anti-government demonstrations that rocked the nation.

Deputy PM Bulent Arinc is standing in for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan who has left the country in a time of crisis in favor of a few days of meetings in North Africa.  It’s not clear of Arnic is speaking the government line, or is acting on his own in his admission that the state had acted harshly when it sent in police to clear environmentalists participating in a sit-in protest to save Istanbul's Gezi Park last week. 

That crackdown was the last straw for tens of thousands of Turks who’ve had it with the government’s increasing authoritarianism and Islamist bent, and who joined the environmentalists and over the course of a few days reoccupied the park.  Arinc’s refusal to reconcile with them, calling them “terrorists”, is only adding fuel to the fire.  Almost a quarter million new protesters joined the nation-wide protests against the government, as “KESK”, the largest confederation of public sector unions announced a two-day strike.

Standing up to the government has come with a price.  At least two people are dead and thousands are injured so far.  A 22-year-old man was killed in a southern city, the government is denying that he was killed by a tear gas canister to the head (cops have been caught on video aiming canisters directly at protesters’ faces).  Another man was struck by a taxi in Istanbul.