Senior lecturer Bill Park of London’s King’s College said, “What you have here is what some people in Turkey call ‘the other 50 percent’ - that is, the 50 percent that don’t vote for the ruling party, that are now expressing a wider frustration.”

And the frustration is being expressed across the country, reflecting concern about a slide toward Islamism and what analysts call a lack of concern the government shows for the roughly half of the country that remains staunchly secular.

Prime Minister Erdogan fueled that feeling Monday, leaving as scheduled for a North Africa trip starting in Morocco, and dismissing the protesters as “na?ve” and “emotional,” and manipulated by “extremist elements.”

Erdogan predicted the protests will be over by the time he returns in a few days.

Analysts are not so sure.

“It’s not so much that it’s a battle for the soul of Turkey, but there are two souls in competition. And the real challenge here, I think, is how, whoever is in power in Turkey,

Turkey finds ways to be politically more inclusive," said Park.

The experts say there is something of a tradition of intolerance for the opposition in Turkey, regardless of who is in power. But continuing protests will not help the prime minister’s desire to change the constitution and increase his own power, nor Turkey’s effort to join the European Union. Professor Park says the best hope is that people around the prime minister convince him to end the polarization and address his opponents’ concerns in a constructive way.