 Bülent Arınç, Speaker of the Turkish Parliament, commented that "they will elect a civilian, democratic and religious president".He also said that "not the regime but the power of the backers of status quo was in danger".In response to the protests Eyüp Fatsa, AKP group chief representative, stated that "if they [AKP] decided to hold such a demonstration they could gather ten times as many people" and that the parliament does not decide based on crowd gatherings.