Turkish businessmen on Thursday expressed their concerns about the ongoing Taksim Gezi Park protests which started more than a week ago, saying that the protests could harm Turkey's economy as well as its prestige worldwide. "While there is economic crisis in the world, Turkey has been growing. This is crucial, everybody should have common sense. We are all in the same ship," executive board chairman of Vestel Company, Ahmet Nazif Zorlu, was quoted as saying by the semi- official Anatolia news agency.

Zorlu said he cannot understand why such protest took place in a period when Turkey started development and progress.

The business world and export would suffer a loss if the protests continued for a long time, Istanbul Chamber of Industry ( ISO) executive board member, Hasan Buyukdere, was quoted as saying.

Buyukdere said he believed the incidents would end soon following the meetings between the protesters and the authorities.

The protests started as a reaction against the demolition of Taksim's Gezi Park and later turned into clashes between police and thousands of protesters since May 28.

The anti-government protests have spread to 67 provinces across the country, including the capital city of Ankara and coastal cities of Antalya and Izmir.

The clashes lead to more than 4000 injured and thousands detained.

Protesters vowed to go ahead with their "struggle" until their demands are met by the government through tangible steps. Endi