Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Beşir Atalay on Monday blamed the “Jewish diaspora,” as well as international media outlets, for the protests that began in Istanbul in late May and spread throughout the country.

“There are some circles that are jealous of Turkey’s growth. They are all uniting, on one side the Jewish Diaspora,” Besir Atalay, one of four deputy prime ministers, said in broadcast remarks Monday, according to the Turkish Hurriyet news service.

The unrest began last month as a peaceful sit-in protest to save Gezi Park in central Istanbul from redevelopment. It turned into a mass demonstration by tens of thousands opposed to Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.

“You saw the foreign media’s attitude during the Gezi Park incidents; they bought it and started broadcasting immediately, before any assessment was made,” Atalay said.

Four people were killed and more than 7,000 injured as the government responded to the unrest with heavy-handed tactics condemned by U.S. and E.U. officials. Ankara has also come under heat for cracking down on public criticism of the government. Last month Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan lashed out against media criticism, amid government crackdowns on journalists and social media users.

This week a Turkish newspaper filed a former complaint against CNN International journalist Christiane Amanpour for “provoking the populace through false news.”

[Photo: Lütfü Türkkan / Youtube]