Mass protests inflict damage to Turkish economy

The damage inflicted to Turkey's economy as a result of mass protests in mid-2013 is estimated at 18 billion liras, which is nearly $9 billion, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, according to the Turkish newspaper Sabah.

Erdogan said the mass protests that took place in various cities throughout Turkey strongly affected the country's economy. Anti-government protests took place in Turkey for nearly three weeks beginning in late May. The Turkish oppositional parties accused the police of using excessive force against protestors. In total, around 2.5 million people from 79 Turkish provinces participated in protests during the three weeks, the Turkish Interior Ministry said.

As a result of the unrest, nearly 4,000 people were injured with varying severity, 4,900 were detained by the police.

Around 255 participants of the mass protests in Turkey were indicted on Dec. 10.

There were seven foreign citizens among those who were accused of participating in the mass protests in Turkey.

The official exchange rate on Dec. 11 is 2.0265 TRY/USD. (Trend)