Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has made yet another provocative statement on the eve of the anniversary of last year’s bloody demonstrations at Gezi Park in Istanbul, which spread nationwide and lasted until the late summer of 2013.

During his speech at an award ceremony for an essay contest between schools in Istanbul, on the subject of Constantinople’s conquest by the Ottoman Turks, Erdogan underlined the contrast between Sultan Mehmed and the “straw men of Gezi Park”, as he characterized the protesters.

“Violence is where there is no thought and opinion. The Gezi people are those who have no thought. They never planted a tree. You won’t become such youth. You’ll speak with your pen,” he said speaking to the young people who attended the event, adding that “those straw men who are in disguise of artists make calls for rebellion for more pains, more deaths.”