Turkish President Downplays Unrest, Defends Police

President Abdullah Gul downplayed Turkey's mass protests and defended riot police on Thursday, telling a Canadian daily it is "quite natural" for demonstrators to wish for a "more perfect" democracy.

Gul's comments were published in Toronto's Globe and Mail one day after two Canadian Broadcasting Corporation journalists covering the protests in Istanbul's Taksim Square were briefly arrested.

"People out on Wall Street in New York were also chanting for more democracy. The same for the people in London and Italy. The same is true for Istanbul," Gul said in the interview.

"What they are after is a more perfect system, which is quite natural."

Gul noted, however, that Turkey's government was "elected openly and transparently" in a ballot with 85 percent participation, saying if voters are unhappy then they can "vote for another party" in next year's election.

He also praised police for what he described as showing restraint. "None of them have ever resorted to armed weapons, they don't carry sticks, they don't carry weapons and there were no casualties caused by firearms," he said.

"If, when the events had first started in Syria the police forces or the interventions were made in a similar fashion, and if they pursued dialogue to comprehend the requests of the society, then perhaps there wouldn't have been such casualties or the escalated events in that country," he added.

Demonstrators have been camping out in Gezi Park, which borders Taksim Square, since May 31, when police brutally responded to a campaign to save the site's 600 trees from being razed.

The crackdown sparked an outpouring of anger across the country against Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which is seen as increasingly authoritarian.

Gul was previously Erdogan's right-hand man at the AKP, which has Islamist roots.

The premier, who has branded the protesters "extremists" and "looters", has faced condemnation from the United States and other Western allies over his handling of the crisis.

Four people have been killed and nearly 5,000 demonstrators, many of whom are young and middle-class, have been injured in the unrest.

The Canadian public broadcaster's correspondents Sasa Petricic and Derek Stoffel said they were held for 11 hours after being arrested for taking pictures of workers dismantling protester barricades on Wednesday.

"We're deeply concerned by the events on the ground in Turkey," Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird told reporters, urging "calm and restraint."

"While violent protests are unacceptable, peaceful demonstration is a fundamental right and we urge the Turkish authorities to respect that," he added.