Joe Biden, Vice President of the United States urged the government of Turkey to respect the rights of the protesters in the country.
The Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc apologized this week for the use of teargas and water cannons by the police force on people demonstrating against the regressive policies of the government.
Despite the apology on Tuesday, protests have continued, showing "no sign" of abatement and the deputy prime minister is said to be meeting some of the protesters on Wednesday.
While encouraging the Turkish government to respect the rights and opinions of the protesters, the U.S. vice president pointed out that "Turkey's future belongs to the people of Turkey."
Biden signaled that if Turkey dreams of becoming one of the world's ten largest economies by 2023, the country should not stray from democracy.
"Today's Turkey has a chance to demonstrate that there's no need to choose between economic advancement and democracy, the system that empowers the winners of elections and yet protects those who are in the opposition," said Joe Biden while speaking to the American-Turkish Council's annual meeting in Washington.
The protests initially erupted when the government security personnel forcefully cracked down on a group of environmentalists in Istanbul who tried to save a park from turning into a shopping mall.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier had dismissed the protesters as "extremists" and "vandals."
Probably alarmed by the response of the Turkish prime minister, the White House urged the Turkish ruling government to solve the issue peacefully without crackdown on the peaceful protesters.
"We hope that the Turkish government will handle this in a way that respects the rights of free speech and assembly that are elemental to democracies. And we welcome the deputy prime minister's comments apologizing for excessive force and we continue to welcome calls for these events to be investigated," said White House spokeswoman Jay Carney at a news briefing.
Two people were reported dead in the series of protests in the country.
