Amid escalating tensions in Turkey, the White House has issued a statement urging all the parties in Turkey to calm down the situation.
As thousands of anti-government protesters continued demonstrations on Sunday in Istanbul and several major cities across the country, the White House Spokeswoman Laura Lucas said demonstrations "are a part of democratic expression."
The White House spokeswoman made it clear that Turkey's long-term stability is best assured by upholding "the fundamental freedoms of expression, assembly and association."
The U.S. government particularly called upon the security forces in the country to "exercise restraint."
The protests erupted on Friday when police used violence against a group of demonstrators protesting the demolition of a local park.
Demonstrators said that they were alarmed by the recent social restrictions imposed by the government, which was brought to power for its democratic beliefs and economic reforms.
The government has passed restrictions on alcohol drinking and the ruling party says that women to have at least three children.
"The government interferes with what we need to eat, what we need to drink, how we should sleep with our partner, how many kids that we should have," said Filiz Polat, a secular Turk, according to the USA TODAY.
"This is getting beyond reasonable," said Filiz Polat.
According to the Amnesty International, two people were killed and more than one thousand people were injured in the clashes between the security forces and the demonstrators.
The Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan blamed the main secular opposition party for inciting the public, whom, the prime minister called "a few looters", and he said that the protests were aimed at sabotaging his ruling AK Party of votes as elections are scheduled to hold next year.
"The main opposition party which is making resistance calls on every street is provoking these protests ... This is about my ruling party, myself and the looming municipal elections in Istanbul and efforts to make the AK Party lose votes here," said the prime minister.
