Turkey protests: Erdogan meets Gezi Park activists
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is meeting members of a key protest group, hours after issuing a "final warning" to demonstrators.
Two representatives of umbrella group Taksim Solidarity were among a delegation invited to the meeting.
It has been described as a "last-ditch" attempt to find a solution after two weeks of anti-government protests.
Taksim Solidarity is opposed to the redevelopment of Istanbul's Gezi Park, the issue that sparked the unrest.
Clashes between police and protesters in the park and adjoining Taksim Square have continued for nearly two weeks.
Activists have said they will not leave until the government abandons plans to redevelop the park.
'Hope for empathy'
The meeting in the capital, Ankara, is the first time Mr Erdogan has met protest organisers directly.
Taksim Solidarity member Canan Calagan said the discussions would be "meaningful".
"The language developed so far has, unfortunately, not been suitable," he told the Associated Press news agency.
"We hope after this meeting that empathy will prevail."
Mr Erdogan's party has proposed a referendum over the future of the park, but that is unlikely to appease many of the protesters still encamped there.
"We will stay in Gezi Park with all our demands and sleeping bags," said a statement from Taksim Solidarity, which is seen as the group that is most representative of the demonstrators.
"We did not suffer through the attacks... so that a referendum could take place."
Gezi Park is a rare patch of green in Turkey's biggest city, and has been the focus of public anger.
Plans to redevelop it into a shopping centre were the initial spark for the protests, which then broadened into anti-government demonstrations in several cities.
Protesters have accused Mr Erdogan's government of becoming increasingly authoritarian and trying to impose conservative Islamic values on a secular state.
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