Mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Kadir Topbas said Wednesday that the financial loss in Istanbul's Taksim Gezi Park protests exceeded 100 million Turkish liras including the loss of the craftsmen.

Speaking to the members of Istanbul Union of Chambers of Tradesmen and Craftsmen at the Golden Horn Congress Center, Topbas said they kept on working to turn Taksim square into a park which can be fully enjoyed by visitors to the city.

"Most people thought we were aiming to build a new shopping mall. However, there is not such a plan. The work was for the traffic regulation," said Topbas.

He said the project for Gezi Park included a city museum and an art gallery.

Stressing the protests belonged to those who had no power in the elections, Topbas said, "We live in a country where there is no opposition party. The leader of Turkey's main opposition party leader still talks about the same issues as in the 1990s. We can not protract the incidents going on for a long time. We have to improve the markets. The tradesmen and craftsmen suffered a lot and are all worried."

Chairman of Istanbul Union of Chambers of Tradesmen and Craftsmen Faik Yilmaz also confirmed that it was the tradesmen and craftsmen who suffered the most from the protests.

"There are around 5 thousand tradesmen around Taksim Square, where the protests took place. 1,242 out of 5 thousand have been damaged. Our loss is between 40-60 million liras," said Yilmaz.

Stating they never got involved in ill-advised protests, Yilmaz called on the demonstrators to stop the protests.

AA