ANKARA, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Thursday rejected a European Parliament resolution condemning Ankara's excessive use of force against the two-week- long nationwide anti-government protests.
"This approach is unacceptable," Davutoglu told reporters, after a similar harsh response from Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the European Parliament.
Approved by a show of hands, the resolution warned against using harsh measures against "peaceful" protesters and urged Erdogan to take a conciliatory position.
"The protesters increasingly feel that minority voices lack representation and parts of the Turkish population are dissatisfied with the recent lifestyle regulation," said the European Parliament. "They stress that in an inclusive, pluralistic democracy, the majority has a responsibility to include opposition and civil society in the decision-making process."
Turkey's permanent representative to the EU will return the resolution, Davutoglu said, suggesting the body's attitude was " orientalist," similar to that of some "international media" whose coverage of the protests has been criticized by the government.
Davutoglu also voiced disappointment on a spate of statements from Washington expressing concern on the matter. "If they have not stated 'concern' for incidents in other countries,... then they cannot use that statement for Turkey's democracy either."
The foreign minister said Ankara would not tolerate manipulation or allow "any operations on its image aiming to harm its rising profile."
The protests started two weeks ago when a group of environmentalists gathered in Gezi Park in Istanbul to protest the government's plan to build a replica of barracks to replace it.
Hundreds of people joined the group after the police used pepper spray and teargas to disperse the group. Shortly after, thousands of protesters took to the streets in Istanbul as well as parts of the country to show support for the demonstrators and opposition against the government.
The demonstrations continued late into Thursday night despite the government's announcement that a referendum may be held to determine the future of the park.
Clashes between police and protesters have killed at least five people, including a policeman, and injured about 5,000 others, according to local media reports.
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