Summary Istanbul mayor has said that the protest park will not be turned into a shopping mall.
ISTANBUL (AFP) - A small Istanbul park whose conservation fight sparked mass protests will not be turned into a shopping mall, the city s mayor assured protesters Friday, but insisted the site s controversial redevelopment would go ahead.
"We are definitely not thinking of building a shopping mall there, no hotel or residence either. It can be... a city museum or an exhibition centre," Istanbul mayor Kadir Topbas told reporters.
Activists have been trying to halt plans to demolish the park to make way for a replica of Ottoman-era military barracks and, some protesters feared, a shopping centre.
A campaign to protect Gezi Park s 600 trees, the last patch of green in the heart of the Turkey s largest city, was met with a violent police crackdown last week, triggering anti-government demos across the country that have left thousands injured by police using tear gas and water cannon.
The unrest has also claimed three lives.
Turkey s Prime Recep Tayyip Erdogan has responded with defiance, vowing to press on with the barracks project but leaving open whether the area would become a shopping district.
In a more conciliatory tone, Topbas said the final plans would be made "through dialogue" and "the number of trees can be increased".
But he stood firm on the overall project: "The plan for the barracks was part of our election promises, the people gave us the authority to do it."
The park, next to Istanbul s main Taksim Square, has become the symbolic heart of the nationwide protest movement and has transformed into a festival-like camp site packed with mostly young demonstrators.
