Waving Turkish flags and chanting "We will die for you, Erdogan" and "Let's go crush them all", supporters of the premier's Justice and Development Party (AKP) staged their first rally after keeping largely silent during seven days of violent anti-government demonstrations across the country.
"I call for an immediate end to the demonstrations, which have lost their democratic credentials and turned into vandalism," Erdogan said in a speech at the Istanbul airport where he returned from a North Africa trip, to roaring cheers from the crowd.
"You have remained calm, mature and showed common sense," he said. "We're all going to go home from here... You're not the type of people to bang pots and pans on the streets."
Earlier, tens of thousands of angry anti-government protesters again packed cities across the country to call for the premier's resignation.
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The nationwide unrest, fuelled by anger against what protesters see as Erdogan's growing authoritarianism, has claimed a third life with the death of a policeman, media said.
Erdogan has so far responded with defiance to the biggest challenge of his decade-long rule, and further enraged protesters on Thursday by vowing to press ahead with the redevelopment of Istanbul's Gezi Park, whose conservation fight lit the flame of the protests.
Speaking in Tunis ahead of his return, Erdogan reiterated his claims that extremists and foreign agitators were to blame for the violence.
"Among the protesters, there are extremists, some of them implicated in terrorism," including some who were in Taksim Square where the trouble broke out last week, he told reporters.
In Istanbul, whistle-blowing, banner-waving demonstrators said they were determined to keep up their protests.