ISTANBUL, March 12 (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan criticised protesters who took to the streets of cities across the country in their hundreds of thousands on Wednesday after the funeral of a 15-year-old boy wounded in anti-government clashes last summer.
"Trying to set fire to the streets 18 days before elections is not a democratic stance," Erdogan told a campaign rally in the southeastern city of Mardin. Turkey holds municipal elections on March 30.
"I appeal to employers' organisations, trade unions and NGOs who are provoking incidents to show responsibility. Whoever has problems should solve them at the ballot box on March 30."
(Reporting by Daren Butler, Writing by Gareth Jones; Editing by Nick Tattersall)
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