Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has given a “final warning” for protesters to leave Istanbul’s Gezi Park, the site of major protests for the past two weeks.

PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan demanded an end to the occupation – staged in the park beside Taksim Square – as he struggles to quell the largest political crisis of his decade-long leadership.

“We have arrived at the end of our patience,” Mr Erdogan told local party leaders in the Turkish capital Ankara.

“I am giving you my final warning,” he said, directing his comments towards the protesters.

He also urged parents with children at the park to convince them to return home.

Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency says the prime minister will meet representatives of the protesters later tonight.

Mr Erdogan has held talks with protest leaders from Taksim Solidarity, a group that has been coordinating much of the Gezi sit-in.

Speculation continues about when a possible final police raid might take place.

Mr Erdogan has offered no timetable for it and the Interior Ministry has declined to comment on the subject.

But Hulya Avsar, a prominent actress who met with Mr Erdogan earlier Thursday, said the prime minister wants an end to the stand-off soon.

“‘In case they don’t withdraw in 24 hours, there will be some sort of intervention,'” she quoted the prime minister as saying.

“At that point, I said, ‘I will leave’ – because there was nothing to talk about.”

Inside the park, many scoffed at the prime minister’s tactics and language, insisting that Mr Erdogan was turning a deaf ear to the Turks who didn’t vote for him when he was re-elected in 2011.

“Each of us is already an independent individual, may be also a father or a mother. My mum and dad do not think that there is an objection for being here,” said demonstrator Hasan Husein Karabulut.

Gezi Park’s sit-in began as a small movement, with mainly environmental activists trying to prevent a development project that would cut down trees to put up a replica of an Ottoman barracks.

Then police cracked down on the protesters on May 31, causing widespread outrage.

Each day saw more tents pitched on the park’s grassy verges, more banners erected, and more donations of food and blankets for the protesters.

The demonstrations then spread to dozens of cities, rallying tens of thousands of people each night, and shifted into a broader protest against Mr Erdogan’s rule.

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