For some bizarre reason the AP calls this “less belligerent language.”

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s prime minister used less belligerent language but said he would go ahead with redevelopment plans that have sparked nationwide protests, in comments Thursday that could be decisive in determining whether the demonstrations fizzle out or rage on.

Speaking at a news conference in Tunisia on the last leg of a four-day tour of North Africa, Recep Tayyip Erdogan acknowledged that some Turks have been involved in the protests out of environmental concerns, but insisted that terrorist groups are involved in the unrest in a country seen as a democratic model for the Middle East.

It appeared unlikely that Erdogan’s comments would calm demonstrators. Protesters were gathering at an airport in Istanbul in anticipation of the prime minister’s return home Thursday night.

Erdogan frequently spends weekends in Istanbul, rather than the capital Ankara. It was unclear whether he chose to land in Istanbul because he has a strong support base going back to his days as the city’s mayor.

Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets of Turkey’s cities in protests that began after police violently cracked down on demonstrators camping out to protest plans for a development in Istanbul’s Taksim Square. […]

“But as I told you earlier, some terrorist groups are involved,” he said, claiming that an outlawed left-wing militant group that carried out a suicide bomb attack on the US Embassy in Ankara in February was also involved in the protests.